Who Needs Pictures

Album: Who Needs Pictures (1999)
Charted: 65
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Written by Paisley along with songwriters Chris DuBois and Frank Rogers, this gut-wrenching song finds Paisley discovering an old camera with undeveloped pictures in it (this is before the proliferation of digital photography). This camera contains pictures of his lover who left him. He considers developing them but changes his mind and says "Who needs pictures with a memory like mine." >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Mark - Sarnia, ON
  • This was Paisley's debut single as a performer (he'd previously worked as a songwriter with EMI Publishing, where he wrote the Top 5 hit "Another You" for David Kersh). It peaked at #12 on the Country chart.
  • Paisley and his team wrote many of the album's songs during a week-long beach trip at DuBois' home in South Carolina. In a 1999 promo interview, the singer recalled how the title track came together: "Frank was sitting there holding his camera saying, 'You know, what about a song about a camera with film still in it that hasn't been developed?' And we kind of talked about how if the film contained images of someone that you maybe miss or someone that you've lost or something that's a really vivid image, then what's the point of getting it developed? Because anything that comes back from… wherever you might send it away to get it developed probably doesn't compare to how you remember it."
  • The music video, directed by Jim Shea, opens with Paisley getting ready for a fishing trip and accidentally finding the camera hidden away in a drawer. As the story unfolds, we see flashes of when he took the photos during a former romance with a pretty blonde. The clip was shot in Los Angeles.

Comments: 1

  • R.d. Dame (old Timing Man) from Orlando, FlI'm not a real country fan but I do have a white 1962 Telecaster and country music has ascended to country pop and one of my favorite singer, musician, song writers is Brad Paisley, talk about a man that can bring tears to man's eyes. The first time I heard him was "Who needs pictures", I drove immediately to the store and bought it, took it home and played it (with tears in my eyes) until I'd learned it and committed it to memory (memories from my own past). He got me with another one to,"Wish you were here", I had to pull my car over my eyes got so blurry. If you ever need a good eye washing, either one of those will do it sure.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Intentionally Atrocious

Intentionally AtrociousSong Writing

A selection of songs made to be terrible - some clearly achieved that goal.

Lecrae

LecraeSongwriter Interviews

The Christian rapper talks about where his trip to Haiti and his history of addiction fit into his songs.

Justin Timberlake

Justin TimberlakeFact or Fiction

Was Justin the first to be Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher? Did Britney really blame him for her meltdown? Did his bandmates think he was gay?

Fire On The Stage

Fire On The StageSong Writing

When you have a song called "Fire," it's tempting to set one - these guys did.

Christmas Songs

Christmas SongsFact or Fiction

Rudolf, Bob Dylan and the Singing Dogs all show up in this Fact or Fiction for seasonal favorites.

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper/Lou Reed)

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper/Lou Reed)Songwriter Interviews

The co-writer/guitarist on many Alice Cooper hits, Dick was also Lou Reed's axeman on the Rock n' Roll Animal album.