Songoftheday 3/24/23 - Every day I clock out and head straight to her house, we cuddle up on the couch but it always ends the same ol' way...

 

 

"Wrapped Around" - Brad Paisley

from the album Part II (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 4

 

Today's song comes from country music singer/songwriter/guitarist Brad Paisley, whose debut album Who Needs Pictures in 1999 had scored two #1 country radio hits that crossed over to the top 40 of Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart with "He Didn't Have To Be" and "We Danced". In the spring of 2001, Brad returned with his sophomore effort, appropriately titled Part II. The lead single from the record, "Two People Fell In Love", was another Hallmark-ready wholesome story song much like his first breakthrough "pop" hit. While it was a decent country radio hit at #4 on Billboard's Country Songs chart, the single stalled just under the halfway mark on the Hot 100 at #51. Another track from the album, "Too Country", a sarcastic take on the state of the Nashville music business at the time, got enough unpromoted airplay to pop on to the chart for a week at #58. It also won the "Vocal Event" trophy at the Country Music Association Awards (since it featured veterans Bill Anderson and Buck Owens on it). 

The proper second single from Part II picked up the pace a little with "Wrapped Around". A comic pun song much like his debut's "Me Neither", this one used the circular engagement ring as a metaphor for the love he's "wrapped around". Written by Paisley with Chris DuBois and Kelly Lovelace, the song whizzes through the wooing pretty damn quickly (he mentions it's only been seven months), but Brad's earnestness and clean delivery sure make you believe (remember, he was dating Chely Wright). The production from Frank Rogers brings a fun swing tempo to the track, and the music video of life on the road is funny enough to keep my attention, although in these current times the opening makes me twinge in hypocrisy (not Brad's fault, the current state of the South). In return Paisley returned back to the crossover top-40....

"Wrapped Around" became Brad's third single to make the top-40 on the Hot 100 in February of 2002. It also spent three weeks at #2 on Billboard's Country Songs chart. The Part II album, released in May of the previous year, was his first to make the top-40 on the Billboard 200 sales tally at #31, while peaking at #3 on the Country Albums list, going on to sell over a million copies. 

 

Both Brad and the album will be back to the series.

(7/10)

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Here's Brad on tour...

and lastly, a special Mardi Gras special for CMT with an extra cool intro...

SOTD will return on Monday with a self-titled extraordinary rapper who wants to hear from you.