Cold One

Album: The Outsiders (2014)
Charted: 88
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This rollicking, tongue-in-cheek cut about a dumped guy is centered around a stolen beer.

    That was a cold one
    I never will get back
    If she had to leave
    Did she have to leave me
    One beer short of a twelve pack


    The song's title references both a drink and a deed as we learn of the narrator's memory of his ex taking a beer from his 12 pack out of a cooler when she left him.
  • Jeff Hyde and Lynn Hutton helped Church pen the song. Jeff Hyde has been a multi-instrumentalist in Church's band for many years. Lynn Hutton also helped write Florida Georgia Line's "Here's to the Good Times."
  • Eric Church: "It's light-hearted, and I feel like when you hear '(The) Outsiders' and 'A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young' [from the album], it can come across as, 'This guy's taking himself really seriously.'"

    "And I think you need 'Cold One' to kind of have a chuckle and go, 'Oh, it's okay. This is music. We're having a good time. Let's laugh.' It's not so focused on the art part that you lose having a good time, and that's what that song to me sets up is it's fun."
  • The song's music video was directed by Church's frequent collaborator Peter Zavadil and shot at a beer warehouse and bar near Nashville. The clip features the singer along with his band members Jeff Cease, Lee Hendricks, Jeff Hyde, Driver Williams and Craig Wright in both performance and acting roles.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Crystal Waters

Crystal WatersSongwriter Interviews

Waters tells the "Gypsy Woman" story, shares some of her songwriting insights, and explains how Dennis Rodman ended up on one of her songs.

Michael Bolton

Michael BoltonSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.

Shaun Morgan of Seether

Shaun Morgan of SeetherSongwriter Interviews

Shaun breaks down the Seether songs, including the one about his brother, the one about Ozzy, and the one that may or may not be about his ex-girlfriend Amy Lee.

Female Singers Of The 90s

Female Singers Of The 90sMusic Quiz

The ladies who ruled the '90s in this quiz.

Booker T. Jones

Booker T. JonesSongwriter Interviews

The Stax legend on how he cooked up "Green Onions," the first time he and Otis Redding saw hippies, and if he'll ever play a digital organ.

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright IIISongwriter Interviews

"Dead Skunk" became a stinker for Loudon when he felt pressure to make another hit - his latest songs deal with mortality, his son Rufus, and picking up poop.