By Genevieve Presley
Columnist
Brantley Gilbert has written many good songs over the years, however those songs don’t compare to his newest ones, such as “Wrote the Book Around Here,” “Tailgates of Heaven,” “All Over The Map” and “Behind The Times.”
I was so excited when I heard that Gilbert would be releasing a deluxe edition of his new album, “So Help Me God” with five new songs. I couldn’t wait to hear them. I hoped that they would be just as amazing as the rest of the album, and when I listened to them I was not disappointed.
“Wrote the Book Around Here” is an upbeat song that reminds me of another song on the album called, “Miles of Memories.” I love the meaning behind this song in addition to the lyrics and the vocals.
It’s about embracing what makes your hometown so special to you and I feel like he sang it so well. My favorite lyric is: “We put the hell in the raising, country in the station, good in them ol’ goodyears. No there ain’t nothing to it, we don’t just do it, man we wrote the book around here. We put the rock in the roll, the roll in the stone, a whole lot of cold in beer. Put the shot in the sign, the all in the night, yeah we wrote the book around here.”
I love this lyric because it reflects the meaning of the song so well and really captures my attention. When I hear this lyric I picture living in a small town, going out with friends and just having a good time.
When I heard “Tailgates of Heaven” it made me feel really good. The way I see it, it’s one of those songs that can make you happy no matter how you’re feeling, at least that’s what it does for me. My favorite lyric is the bridge: “Remember when we thought that nights like this would last forever? Well I still believe they do, they just go down somewhere better.”
What I love about this lyric is Gilbert is singing about Heaven and how beautiful and perfect it will be. That’s the main thing that makes me love this song so much.
“All Over the Map” is definitely my top favorite of all the new songs. It’s about not being able to get over somebody that you love because you see them everywhere you go. I love the first verse and chorus when he sings: “Your goodbye pushed me out of Georgia, but you were always on my mind. That was always headed towards you, and you were never far behind. So, I tried my luck in Florida, guess that’s still too close to home, so I up and headed North in hopes that I might get you gone. Yeah, how can you be here and gone? You’re all over the map, everywhere that I go. In the headlights, in the rearview and every song on the radio. You’re all over me and I ain’t over that, girl I can’t get over you when you’re everywhere I’m at. You’re all over the map.”
I love these lyrics because Gilbert has the ability to make words like this flow so well within a song that I love. That is why “All Over the Map” is my favorite of all the new songs.
“Behind the Times” is my second favorite. Just like “Wrote the Book Around Here” and “All Over The Map” it is very upbeat.
In this song, Gilbert is singing about how he doesn’t want things to change, he wants to keep living the simple life. My favorite lyric is: “You can leave me behind the times, tell tomorrow I ain’t coming. Leave me on the old school side of a town that’s still running’ on backs that hurt, roads of dirt, money grows in rows and God is first. If I’m the last one left living this simple life, go on and leave me behind the times.”
The fifth song, “Bury Me Upside Down” wasn’t among my favorites because it was good and all, but there was a lot of bad language that made it hard to enjoy the song and it wasn’t very upbeat.
Overall, I loved these songs so much, and I might even go on to say that they’re the best songs he’s ever written.
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