Noise

Album: Cosmic Hallelujah (2016)
Charted: 72
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Songfacts®:

  • Kenny Chesney was traveling to a marketing meeting in Nashville when he dreamed up this song. He discussed the idea while on the phone with songwriter Shane McAnally. Chesney recalled, "When Shane and I started talking the next morning, the topic came up, then the song fell out with a real meter and the sense 'This is a lyric.' We got started, and I knew I had to get to that meeting – and was literally writing in the car as I was driving into town. I actually sat in my manager's parking lot, still working on the lines, the phrasing, the rhythms... Until finally I had to go in."

    After Chesney hung up the phone to join the meeting, McAnally continued writing the song with Ross Copperman and Jon Nite. By the time the meeting was over, they had a working demo in place. Two days later, Chesney went into the studio to record "Noise."
  • Chesney feels that "Noise" is a hugely relevant tune for 2016. "You know this is a political year, we've got all these political candidates on TV, on all the 24 hour news stations, we have all this noise in our heads, all these talking heads that seems like they're screaming louder and louder just so they can be heard," he said.

    "Sometimes you know you've got something so timely, so right then, you have to grab it," Chesney added. "It seemed like everywhere I turn, everywhere I go, there is so much stuff coming at you. Your phone, your car, on the streets, on TV. Everywhere it's just so loud, so much, so many different things - all pushing buttons, being sensational, shouting for attention. You can't escape it, and you can't turn it down."
  • The video, directed by longtime Chesney collaborator Shaun Silva, features a montage of noisemaking images. Flashing visions of cell phones, computer screens, a Kardashian and presidential candidate Donald Trump are all shown to illustrate how we are inundated with too much information. Chesney wrote regarding the clip on Facebook:

    "This video really captures what was rolling around in my head, even in the initial conversation when we were writing the song. We're not preaching to anyone, we're just making a statement about the way we live."

    "The message is to try to be mindful of it. If you love someone, tell them you love them. Don't text it to them. There's so much life to be lived outside the #noise?"
  • Chesney was getting sucked into the electronic void before he wrote this song. "I found myself constantly living in my phone," he told Entertainment Weekly. "And when we aren't living in our phones, we turn on the TV and are being told what to thing and what to buy and how to act. It becomes white noise."

Comments: 1

  • R. N. Gruber from Auburn, CaMr. Chesney,
    Your song "Noise" touches on so many subjects, but you missed a few. I was an over-the- road truck driver for 38 years, owning my own equipment. East to west, north to south, one mile at a time, over 4 million of them. The most famous words I've heard in my history of driving is "you're under arrest". Having permits for everything - fuel permits, authority permits. These all from the West Coast to East Coast. Whenever you were pulled over by the authorities, you never had the right permit & there was a fine involved before you could continue. My point is US of A is a free country, until you try to cross it with a big truck with a load of frozen freight. I'm 80 years old and the day of the owner-operator has gone by the wayside.
    I thank you for all of your music. It always makes a point and I thank you for that.
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