Songoftheday 6/25/22 - I'm so sorry I keep interruptin' what were you gonna say? You caught him cheatin' I don't blame you for walkin' away...

 

 

"Go On" - George Strait

from the album George Strait (2000)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #40 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 1

 

Today's song comes from country music legend George Strait, who wrapped up his two decades of recording so far with his Latest Greatest Straitest Hits collection, which spun off a #1 country radio/ top-40 crossover hit in the spring of 2000 with "The Best Day".  Later that year George returned with his self-titled twentieth studio album. The lead single from the record was the easygoing "Go On", written by Tony Martin and Mark Nesler, and produced by Tony Brown. In the song George is chatting up a woman who left her cheating partner, and in grand country pun tradition uses the "Go On" to both mean keep talking as well as move on with your life. It's a simple yet effective message that doesn't use the turn of phrase cornily, and Strait's paternal and easing voice gives some peace to the song about cheating and recovering. You don't know if the two will end up together or it was a passing conversation, but really that doesn't matter to what he's trying to say. As for the production, its a rarity for Strait to have the piano provide the predominant "hook", which is a nice change, and the flow of the song is just so damn comforting...

"Go On" went on to score Strait his fourth crossover top-40 hit on Billboard magazine's pop Hot 100 chart in October of 2000. The song stopped at #2 for three weeks on Billboard's Country Singles chart, making his first album since 1992 to fail to have a #1, though that would change soon enough. Internationally, the single topped the Canadian Country chart, right before local trade mag RPM closed business. The George Strait album, released in September of that year, came in at #7 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and topped the Country Albums list for a week, going on to sell over a half-million copies, but his first studio set to fail to reach a million. 

The second single pulled from George Strait was the upbeat zydeco-swing tune "Don't Make Me Come Over There And Love You", which criminally missed the country top ten at #17, while only "bubbling under" the Hot 100 at #102. Surprisingly that was the song that sported a (cute) music video. That was followed by the breakup ballad "If You Can Do Anything Else", which did a bit better by going to #5 on country radio, while stopping at #51 on the pop Hot 100. But don't fret, George will be back to the series.

(6/10)

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Here's a fan-shot clip of George singing "Go On" in concert in 2017...

Up tomorrow: These flammable guys are missing you.