Waitin' on a Woman

Album: Time Well Wasted (2005)
Charted: 44
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Songfacts®:

  • This sweetly sentimental song by Don Sampson and Wynn Varble is about the stereotype that a woman is always late. Varble is probably best known for co-writing Darryl Worley's patriotic hit "Have You Forgotten?"
  • The video was shot at an outlet mall in Pea Island, North Carolina. It features Andy Griffith sitting on a bench with Paisley. The veteran actor explains to the country singer that a woman is worth waiting for. Paisley said on his press release: "'Waitin' on a Woman' is one of the most important songs I've recorded. It's a masterpiece written by Wynn Varble and Don Sampson, and the video demanded excellence and art to match the composition. Andy was my #1 choice for the video - he is the perfect person that embodies wisdom, years, and personality of the character in the video."
  • Wyn Varble told AOL the story behind the song. He explained: "A buddy of mine told me about a friend of ours who was in the hospital and wasn't doing well at all. After I hung up with him, I talked to the guy and asked how he was doing. He was in his last days, and I asked him where his wife was. He said he told her to go home, that there was nothing she could do there. That title came to mind, and that little story, the outline of it.

    Don [Sampson] and I had started a song the week before that we were going to finish, but Don said, 'Shoot, let's write this instead of that other one.' We finished it in one day. That afternoon, I went to town to play it for one of my song pluggers down there, Cris Lacy. She hears a million songs, and I looked up at her afterwards, and she had tears down her face. I told Don, 'I think we have something if it got through Cris Lacy's hard shell.' About a week later, somebody at Brad Paisley's company played it for him, and he put it on hold, and the rest is history."
  • This was Brad Paisley's eighth consecutive chart-topper on the Hot Country Songs chart. This was the longest string of #1s on this list since Dan Seals had nine consecutive chart-toppers between October 1985 and February 1989.
  • This was Paisley's fifth #1 taken from his 5th Gear album, meaning he became the first artist to pull five chart-toppers from one long player since Rodney Crowell had a quintet of #1s from his Diamonds and Dirt set between April 1988 and September 1989.
  • The song's promo won the award for best music video at the 2008 CMA Awards. At the same ceremony Paisley also took home the prize for best male vocalist for the second year running.
  • This song was originally released as a non single on Paisley's 2005 album Time Well Wasted. It was re-released in 2007 for 5th Gear. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Julian - Oakland, AR
  • When he set out to film the video for "Waitin' on a Woman," Paisley decided to call one of his idols: Andy Griffith.

    "Who's the perfect person to sit next to you on a bench and tell you, 'Here's some advice, son'? Andy Griffith," the singer explained in his spotlight interview during the 2018 Country Radio Seminar in Nashville. "I wrote him a letter. I told him, 'I grew up watching [The Andy Griffith Show]. Your show helped me raise my son. I now know how to raise a boy because of watching that show. If you want to be in the video, that would be great, but if not, thank you for everything you've done.'"

    A couple weeks later, Paisley received a phone call from Griffith. "He said, 'Bradley, I love this song. I'd love to do this. But one thing: Do I need to sing?'" the singer recalled with a laugh. Paisley assured Griffith he didn't need to, but the veteran actor learned the song off by heart anyway.

Comments: 3

  • Sandy from The Berkshires-maInstead of men are always the first to die, it should have been men are often the first to die (sad, but true). Reminds me of a joke I heard; [Question: Why do men usually die before their wives? Answer: Because they want to.] So you see, men always have some rationale behind everything they do. So....take heart!
  • Courtney from Conway, ArDoes anyone know if the West Town Mall mentioned in the first verse is referring to the mall of the same name in Knoxville, Tennessee?
  • Landon from Winchester, OhI don't like the line about men are always the first to die, but the rest of the song is beautiful.
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