I Should Probably Go to Bed

Album: Good Things (2020)
Charted: 28
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Songfacts®:

  • Over a piano line, Dan + Shay contemplate reconnecting with an ex. Having been persuaded by friends to go out for the night, they're informed their old flame is back in town and likely to arrive any time now.

    I know I don't have the self-control
    To walk away if you walk in
    Oh, I know, I know, I know, I know
    I should probably go to bed


    The idea of linking up with her again is enticing, but the pair acknowledges they'd be better off forgetting that idea and hitting the hay.
  • Asked by Billboard how two married men can write such a heartbreaking song about a lost love, Smyers explained it's a position everybody has been in at some point in their lives and they pulled from several people's past experiences.

    "We knew we wanted it to be a situational thing where somebody's battling with temptation and they're defenseless from whatever that temptation may be," he said. "In this case, it's somebody that they can't quite keep themselves away from."
  • This pop piano ballad owes its origins to a trip to Los Angeles where Dan + Shay picked up a trophy for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the Grammys. They started the song there with co-writers Sean Douglas and Jason Evigan before finishing it at Dan Smyers' home studio, on his piano, albeit by accident.

    "Shay had come over to record vocals on another song that we had written," he recalled. "We took a break, went downstairs, started singing this song, and realized this song needs a big ending. So we really went for it. Shay delivered one of my favorite vocal performances of all time."
  • Sean Douglas and Jason Evigan's previous credits together include Demi Lovato's "Heart Attack" and Jason DeRulo's "Talk Dirty."
  • Dan Smyers also arranged and produced the song and played every instrument, including piano, bass, acoustic guitar, drums, synth and strings.
  • Dan's wife Abby Smyers croons the backing vocals. Abby made her recording debut in 2017 when she sang 12 tracks of "when I, when I" harmony on "Tequila."
  • Dan Smyers named his home studio Abby Road, a reference to both his wife and the famed London studio.
  • Dan + Shay sang a stripped-down version of this song from the Grand Ole Opry stage during the 2020 ACM Awards. Their performance followed the pair picking up the Duo of the Year award at the ceremony, marking their second win in a row in the category.

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