Brad Paisley knows how to write a great song. Although he has recorded songs written by other people, including “Whiskey Lullaby” and “When I Get Where I’m Going”, Paisley has written plenty of his own hits, including these three songs, which prove he is one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
Videos by American Songwriter
“He Didn’t Have To Be”
Paisley wrote “He Didn’t Have To Be” with Kelley Lovelace. Out in 1999, the song is Paisley’s second single, and his first No. 1 hit.
“He Didn’t Have To Be” says in part, “And then, all of a sudden, oh it seemed so strange to me / How we went from something’s missing to a family / Looking back, all I can say about all the things he did for me / Is, I hope I’m at least half the dad that he didn’t have to be.”
The song was inspired by Lovelace’s relationship with his stepson. It is also the song that Paisley believes is among the most important in his career.
“‘He Didn’t Have to Be’ was probably the most life-changing three minutes that I’ve ever written,” he says (via Songfacts). “Because I really believe we wouldn’t be sitting here anymore talking. Maybe we’d be sitting here with me having written a No. 1 song for somebody else. But I don’t think I’d still have a record deal without that song.”
“This Is Country Music”
Paisley wrote “This Is Country Music” with Wynn Varble. The song is the title track of Paisley’s eighth studio album, and a way for him to put his proverbial stake in the ground about the genre at the time. Paisley released “This Is Country Music” in 2010.
The song says, “You’re not supposed to say the word ‘cancer’ in a song / And telling folks Jesus is the answer can rub them wrong / It is not hip to sing about tractors, trucks, little towns, and mama / Yeah that might be true / But this is country music, and we do.”
Varble reveals that the idea for the song was Paisley’s.
“He told me it would be about all the things he had found himself saying in interviews over the years about country music,” Varble tells The Boot. “What he loves, what inspires him — all of that. He wanted to write a song about what makes country music, as a format, unique from all the other genres of music. There are no topics that are forbidden, unless they are risqué. That’s where the idea stemmed from.”
“Same Here”
Paisley wrote “Same Here” with Lee Thomas Miller and Taylor Goldsmith. The song, released as a single in 2023, features spoken words by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine.
Paisley was inspired to write “Same Here” by the tragic war in Ukraine. The song says, “However you talk, whatever you think / From the songs that you sing to the drink that you drink / If you miss your mama, and worry ’bout your babies / And love each other like crazy / And want someone to share your hopes and fears / Same here.”
“There’s just no differences,” Paisley says (via NBC). “You can put us in different places with different flags and different languages, but we have so many similarities.”
Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images
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