Luke Bryan Had a Massive Hit With This Song, After Jason Aldean Passed on It

In 2012, Luke Bryan had a two-week No. 1 hit with “Drunk On You“. The song, which became a multi-platinum hit for Bryan, is on his third studio album, Tailgates & Tanlines. Written by Rodney Clawson, Chris Tompkins, and Josh Kear, the song is Bryan’s fourth No. 1 single and his first chart-topping single that he did not write.

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Although Jason Aldean isn’t a writer on “Drunk On You”, Bryan still owes him a debt of gratitude for the success of the song. Before “Drunk On You” was pitched to Bryan, Aldean was given first dibs on it. Aldean turned it down, a decision he later said he regretted.

 “That song got pitched to us,” Aldean says (via Songfacts). “And at the time, for whatever reason, I wasn’t looking for that type of song, and we ended up passing on it.”

To make matters worse, the two were touring together at the time. Bryan was serving as the opening act on Aldean’s My Kind Of Party Tour. It means Aldean had to listen to Bryan sing “Drunk On You” every night.

Tailgates & Tanlines also includes “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)”, “I Don’t Want This Night To End“, and others. But for Bryan, “Drunk On You” is the most pivotal track.

“[It] was the cornerstone of the album,” he says. “We were just making sure that we wanted to pick the right singles to get to the summertime and to get to ‘Drunk On You’.”

The Story Behind “Drunk On You” by Luke Bryan

“Drunk On You” says, “Girl, you make my speakers go boom boom / Dancin’ on the tailgate in a full moon / That kinda thing makes a man go mm hmm / You’re lookin’ so good in what’s left of those blue jeans / Drip of honey on the money maker gotta be / The best buzz I’m ever gonna find / Hey, I’m a little drunk on you / And high on summertime.”

A song Bryan still includes in his live shows, “Drunk On You” was almost called something entirely different.

“The idea that we actually wrote to was called ‘High In Summertime’,” Clawson tells Taste of Country. “We felt like ‘Drunk On You’ was a better title because you can’t say ‘high’ in a country song. Even though it’s not [about] getting high on drugs. It’s getting high on summertime. It was a really fun song to write, because it was just painting a scene of a bunch of kids sitting in a circle.”

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for ACM