Songoftheday 6/17/24 - I got no money in my pockets I got a hole in my jeans, I had a job and I lost it but it won't get to me...

 

 

"Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me" - Keith Urban

from the album Golden Road (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 6

 

Today's song comes from Australian (but New Zealand-born) country music singer/songwriter/guitarist Keith Urban, whose second album on Capitol Nashville Records, Golden Road, had scored a pair of big radio hits that crossed over to the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart with "Somebody Like You" and "Raining On Sunday".  The third single from the record was the uptempo track "Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me". Written by Urban with Monty Powell, the deceptive title isn't about Keith's success, which he casts in the first verse as he has no money and no job, but is about the love he has, which supercedes those setbacks. At least he has a car to cart his woman around, who is the one who is serenading him. he repeats that in the third verse, and the simplicity may be cast as naive if sung by others, but Urban has a way to convey positivity without seeming cheesy. The production, which Keith handled on his own, lets his guitar skills shine, and the tight harmonies and sweet banjo in the back complete this contemporary country without seeming too polished stand out. The music video is footage of Keith and the band on tour over his studio version, and apparently he brings his "hog" out on the road...

"Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me" became Keith's fifth single to reach the top-40 on Billboard's Hot 100 in November of 2003. On the radio, the song was his third to top the Country Songs airplay chart, taking a week at #1. 

Both Keith and the Golden Road album will be back to the series, with a song that broke him on pop radio.

(7/10)

Here's Keith live in concert performing the song...

Up tomorrow: Jingoistic country hitmaker is welcome at the local dive.