Song #91: Toby Keith - "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight"

Song #91: Toby Keith - "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight" (2001)

Pull My Chain

"Well, I'm not talkin' 'bout locking down forever, baby. That would be too demanding. I'm just talkin' 'bout two lonely people who much reach a little understanding."

Toby Keith's chart-topping hit "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight" marked probably the first of what would be many songs that I listened to, sung for years, and didn't realize what the song was really about until much later in my life. The song concerns a man who isn't looking for a serious relationship nor a mutually exclusive one - he just wants one night where he can have sex and be free of the obligations and requirements of a relationship. Not necessarily a "friends with benefits" type of relationship, but a one night stand.

Singing this in the backseat of my grandmother's car at age five, I had no idea what the hell the song was talking about (to be fair, neither did my grandmother). I was too busy singing along to what had to be some of the catchiest lyrics I had heard in my life. Even the music video, which was played constantly on the Country Music Television (CMT) top twenty countdown from 2001 to 2003, was a visually stylish piece of work, with lowlit blue backgrounds and a goofy array of bar characters that would later become profiled and more developed in Keith's future hit "I Love This Bar."

Having said that, I recall this song has my introduction to music with meanings that I didn't understand up front. Many country songs that I listened to around this time were easily understandable and I could get their messages quite easily. This one stumped me a bit and made me reconsider my knowledge and lyrical-comprehension.
 

Give "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMKTB95-LVk