selfie#theinternetisforever

Album: Love and War (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Here, Brad Paisley pokes fun at people's obsessions with taking "selfies," a form of photography in which a person takes a snap of oneself with a digital camera or camera phone and shares the picture via social media. Other artists that have recorded songs about selfies include Chainsmokers, Nina Nesbitt and Santigold.
  • Brad Paisley namechecks the American football quarterback Brett Favre.

    Go on and take one at the Grand Canyon
    Or if you get to meet Ringo Starr
    But if you're texting some girl that you just met
    Pictures of your little Brett Favre


    In 2010, the NFL investigated Favre for allegedly sending below-the belt photos and inappropriate voice messages for Jets "Gameday host" Jenn Sterger during the 2008 season The ex-quarterback admitted leaving voicemails, but denied sending the nude images. Most Americans will pick up the reference to the Brett Favre sexting scandal. However Paisley was aware that in the UK, audiences would not recognize where he's coming from. He explained to Billboard magazine how he decided to change the lyric to fit a foreign market.

    "I was going to sing 'Selfie' there, but the thing I realized was there's a line in there that deals with an American football star who made a bad decision. So I asked someone, 'Has anyone in the U.K. or England taken a bad selfie or something?' And they were like, 'Oh yes, Vernon Kay would be the one you want! He's married but he was texting some pictures of his private parts to some girls and he did it again. He did it like two times.' And I'm like,' "Really? We need to put it in this song!'

    So I rewrote 'Selfie.' They laughed at every line like they were in America and when I get to the last verse, I changed it. I said, 'So you can go on and take one of Big Ben or Stonehenge, that's okay, but if you're texting some girl that you've just met, pictures of Little Vernon Kay, you ought to be ashamed.' They went insane, and it was so neat to see, 'Wow, we're all stupid in the same ways.' We share the exact same stupid decisions and dumb technology addictions I guess."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets

Curt Kirkwood of Meat PuppetsSongwriter Interviews

The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged.

Paul Stanley of Kiss, Soul Station

Paul Stanley of Kiss, Soul StationSongwriter Interviews

Paul Stanley on his soul music project, the Kiss songs with the biggest soul influence, and the non-make-up era of the band.

80s Music Quiz 1

80s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

MTV, a popular TV theme song and Madonna all show up in this '80s music quiz.

Keith Reid of Procol Harum

Keith Reid of Procol HarumSongwriter Interviews

As Procol Harum's lyricist, Keith wrote the words to "A Whiter Shade Of Pale." We delve into that song and find out how you can form a band when you don't sing or play an instrument.

Bible Lyrics

Bible LyricsMusic Quiz

Rockers, rappers and pop stars have been known to quote the Bible in their songs. See if you match the artist to the biblical lyric.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.