When you hear a Mark Chesnutt record, you pretty much know what you’re going to get, and in his case, that’s a good thing. During a career that has spanned all sorts of fads and trendy sounds emanating from Nashville, Chesnutt has consistently delivered a traditionalist take on the music that has won him a devoted following among fans who want that good, authentic country music.
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Once upon a time, however, Chesnutt was a relative newbie who needed a song to introduce him to the wider world on his first major-label release. That song was “Too Cold at Home,” which sounded like a classic the day it was released and has only gained in reputation since its release in 1990. But who wrote the song? And what is this weather-themed track all about? Find out as we go deeper inside this country standard.
A New Artist with an Old-Fashioned Outlook
Mark Chesnutt was recording in Nashville when he was still a teenager at the start of the ‘80s. Blessed with a husky, rich voice that sounded like it belonged to someone much older, Chesnutt released a passel of independent singles during that decade before finally getting his first major-label shot in 1990. An impressive array of Nashville session pros were utilized to bring Chesnutt’s first album with the majors to life.
Chesnutt gravitated to a sound on that 1990 record that would have been at home in 1980, 1970, even 1960—and he hasn’t really swayed from that approach in all the years since. In an interview with Digital Journal published upon the release of his 2016 album, Tradition Lives (and doesn’t that title say it all), he spelled out his beliefs about the music that he always wanted to be making:
“I’m not chasing radio or following trends—I am doing what I do best. The title came before the album was ever recorded. I’ve never been a bro-country singer. I’ve always been a traditionalist and wanted to make a point that this was traditional music.”
That quote could just as well have referred to that 1990 major-label debut. For the title track of that album, Chesnutt turned to an industry veteran named Bobby Harden to write it. Harden had been both a group artist (with his sisters in The Harden Trio) and a solo artist before devoting his time to songwriting. His grasp of the classic era of country storytelling made him the ideal fit to write something for Chesnutt.
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When Harden came up with “Too Cold at Home,” Chesnutt embraced it to the degree that he made it his first major-label single and also chose it for the title of his album. The song went to No. 3 on the country charts, and was the first of five Top 10 singles from that record. And it all began with a song that gave a very personal weather report.
What Does “Too Cold at Home” Mean?
Taken by Chesnutt at a lazy lope of a pace, “Too Cold At Home” features the singer waxing both nostalgic and frustrated about the hot weather all around. In the first verse, it’s revealed that he has stopped by a bar to beat the heat via the air conditioning and the liquid comfort. He laments that the weather makes it unbearable to do just about anything: These old dog days of summer / Lord, I’ll be glad when they’re gone.
And then comes the couplet that serves as the refrain and turns the song on its ear in a hurry: It’s too hot to fish and too hot for golf / And too cold at home. Now we know the real reason the heat is bugging him so much. His domestic life has regressed to the point that chilly winds are blowing through the house—even when it’s 90 or so in the shade outside.
In the second verse, Chesnutt’s narrator notices a baseball game playing on the television at the bar. It takes him back to his youth and playing ball as a kid, to the point where he gets carried away in nostalgia: Yeah, we won a few and lost a few / And for me, it still goes on. That sets up the refrain once again.
The final verse returns to the here and now with something that grabs the protagonist’s attention. Well I only planned for one or two / I might stay for three, Chesnutt sings, If that good lookin’ thing in the corner / Keeps smilin’ back at me. Crazy from the heat and bewildered by the Ice Age back at his domicile, this guy is about to cross a very serious line: It’s so easy not to care / ’Bout what’s right or wrong. One last refrain then drives the point home.
“Too Cold at Home” established Mark Chesnutt as being worthy of the country music tradition first established by heroes of his like George Jones and Waylon Jennings. And Chesnutt has upheld that tradition every step of the way since that wonderful breakout single.
Photo by David Becker/Getty Images
