“We Danced”
Brad Paisley
Written by Chris DuBois and Brad Paisley
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
December 1, 2000
Billboard
#1 (2 weeks)
December 2 – December 9, 2000
From day one, I’ve understood the appeal of Brad Paisley.
He used the early nineties playbook in the late nineties, launching his career through a nostalgic embrace of an era that had ended about two years earlier. Paisley understood the structure of that specific brand of nineties country, and “We Danced” might be the best example of his mastery of this very specific form.
The steel guitar plays off the key lines in all the right places. The storyline follows the “Don’t Take the Girl” structure of a chorus staying the same but meaning something different as it follows each verse. And Paisley’s twang is just enough to endear him to traditionalists while still being smooth enough to keep suburban moms and dads from changing the station. But the talents are still developing, for sure. He didn’t write a strong enough melody or deliver a strong enough vocal performance to compensate for the flaccid chorus, which would honestly require a Jackson or a Strait to pull off.
With time, I’ve come to appreciate his reverence for the form, and I feel less cynical about the calculated craft of his records. But that clinical feeling still remains with me. Paisley casts himself as a bartender, but this is a meet cute more suited to a university dining hall. A setup that could be genuinely interesting is secondary to the song’s primary goal of supporting the chorus. That’s a subtle but significant shift that foreshadows so much of what I don’t like about modern mainstream country.
A quarter century later, I’m more charitable to someone who can actually sing and write, and who I believe genuinely cares about the traditions of country music and the preservation of the genre. But Paisley’s the canary in the coal mine, as college educated kids from the suburbs overwhelm the artist rosters and songwriting rooms of Music Row and only know the working class experience from what they’ve seen on TV.
Because there isn’t a honky tonk bar on earth where this scenario would play out like this. But it would make for a good episode of Cheers.
“We Danced” gets a B.
Every No. 1 Single of the 2000s
Previous: Phil Vassar, “Just Another Day in Paradise” |
Next: Tim McGraw, “My Next Thirty Years”
I would agree that “B” seem right. Not exceptional but a good song.
Interesting overall take on Brad Paisley. I don’t doubt that the college boys without traditionally country backgrounds seized control of the industry infrastructure in Nashville, but is it fair to say that Brad Paisley was the opening salvo for that? He grew up in a small town in West Virginia, the son of a DOT employee and a teacher. Maybe there’s more to the story but that sounds like a pretty country and blue-collar background to me, even if he did end up matriculating at Belmont University. Whatever the case, I consider him an important if highly imperfect figure in early 21st century country music, carving out a distinct style with his instrumental prowess, sense of humor, and willingness to take risks. Sometimes those risks failed spectacularly, but there was a creativity to songs rhapsodizing about “water” and “camouflage” that channeled Tom T. Hall and was unlike anything anybody else on radio was doing in his era.
I mostly agree with your take on “We Danced”. It’s a highly pleasant record that probably had the potential to be a great record if it wasn’t so committed to the formula. I differ from you in that I always thought the song had heart, with a compelling vocal performance that matched nicely with the sparse and swooning arrangement that at least for me elevated it above a more factory-assembled formula song like “The Best Day”. Perhaps I gave Paisley too much credit for authenticity based on the legacy of previous hit “He Didn’t Have to Be”, which is up there with “Whiskey Lullaby” as the best song of his career.
If I had to guess between rookie prospects that I expected to have a potential Hall of Fame career back in late 2000, I’d have likely chosen Phil Vassar over Brad Paisley. But both came out of the gate with an impressive debut album and no shortage of potential, so it wasn’t such a surprise that Paisley would go on to dominate country radio for the next decade and beyond.
Grade: B+
Some of his later catalog is plagued by trying too hard (“Ticks”, “Crushin’ It”), being lazy to the point of cliche (“Then”), or just being pure cringe (“Accidental Racist”). But for the most part, I found him uniformly good between his debut and Time Well Wasted. There’s a definite vibe on his first three albums that makes even the second-tier stuff more compelling to me. If this song is built off ’90s country tropes that may have read a little dated in 2000, then at least unlike “Yes!” they’re elevated by a smooth production and charismatic vocal.
I didn’t really get into Brad Paisley’s music until the Mud on the Tires album and even moreso with the Time Well Wasted album. Until then, his music seemed pretty thin /boring , which included this song.