Friday, August 8, 2014

[Delayed Post]: Song #32: Toby Keith - "Should've Been a Cowboy"

Song #32: Toby Keith - "Should've Been a Cowboy" (1993)
Toby Keith
"I mighta had a sidekick with a funny name, runnin' wild through the hills chasin' Jesse James."

Before Toby Keith was internationally known as a country singer, he boasted a damn-sexy mullet and wrote songs wishing he had thoroughly contemplated his career choice. "Should've Been a Cowboy," Keith's first big hit off his debut album Toby Keith in 1993, is a song I've loved dearly since I was about four-years-old, even though I never really understood the lyrics until I was a teenager and never really cared much for Western films or Television. 

"Should've Ben a Cowboy" is just a damn-fun song, regardless of your level of enthusiasm for Westerns, with Keith singing about how he wishes he had been a cowboy, referencing numerous different Western programs such as Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger, and people like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. The song hits the ground running from the first verse, boasting a beautiful, melodic instrumentation with Keith coming in providing the song with smooth, velvety vocals in order to capture not only an aura but a vibe that isn't present with many country songs today.

The song is addicting and always flashes me back to being a kid, particularly over at my grandmother's house, warming me up with its incredible nostalgia vibes and motivation, like this song still does to this date. A footnote about the song is that with over three million plays on country radio during its respective decade, it was the most played country song of the 1990's, at least proving I'm not the only one who finds something peculiarly special about this song.

Give "Should've Been a Cowboy" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zquk_DExKo

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