You Can't Bring Me Down

Album: The Mountain (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Over a laid-back musical backdrop, Dierks Bentley sings about the stifling Music City culture. Bentley wrote "You Can't Bring Me Down" with Luke Laird (Carrie Underwood's "So Small," Little Big Town's "Pontoon") and Hillary Lindsey (Carrie Underwood's ("Jesus, Take The Wheel," Little Big Town's "Girl Crush.") The song was recorded along with the rest of The Mountain at the Studio in the Clouds just outside of Telluride, Colorado, where the country star had a vacation home.
  • You can try to wrap your words like rocks around my ankles
    And push me off a bridge and hope that I might drown
    Any cheap shots that you've got yeah I can handle
    You don't get this far without knowing how to get up off the ground


    The song's empowering lyrics were inspired by some Nashville gossip. "A friend was talking about Music Row and gossip," he told Rolling Stone Country , "which is part of the reason I made my album outside of Music Row, because it can be like high school. It's just a lot of the same writers, and gossip central. So I said to him, 'Dude, it can't bring me down.' That's the truth."
  • The song features some excellent mandolin picking in the background from renowned Kentucky musician Sam Bush. The bluegrass legend appears on two other The Mountain tracks.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Name the Character in the Song

Name the Character in the SongMusic Quiz

With a few clues (Works at a diner, dreams of running away), can you name the character in the song?

Tony Joe White

Tony Joe WhiteSongwriter Interviews

The writer of "Rainy Night in Georgia" and "Polk Salad Annie" explains how he cooks up his Louisiana swamp rock.

Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks

Ron and Russell Mael of SparksSongwriter Interviews

The men of Sparks on their album Hippopotamus, and how Morrissey handled it when they suggested he lighten up.

John Kay of Steppenwolf

John Kay of SteppenwolfSongwriter Interviews

Steppenwolf frontman John Kay talks about "Magic Carpet Ride," "Born To Be Wild," and what he values more than awards and accolades.

Jon Anderson

Jon AndersonSongwriter Interviews

Jon Anderson breaks down the Yes classic "Seen All Good People" and talks about his 1000 Hands album, which features Chick Corea, Rick Derringer, Ian Anderson, and many other luminaries.

Gavin Rossdale of Bush

Gavin Rossdale of BushSongwriter Interviews

On the "schizoid element" of his lyrics, and a famous line from "Everything Zen."