Better Together

Album: What You See Is What You Get (2019)
Charted: 15
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Luke Combs concludes What You See Is What You Get with this poignant cut that he wrote before he even started dating Nicole Hocking. The song is a simple message of love about various things that go well together, like "a cup of coffee and a sunrise" and "Sunday drives and time to kill." He then emphasizes the message to Nicole in the bridge.

    If I'm being honest, your first and my last name
    Would just sound better together


    Combs first met Nicole Hocking when she attended a singer-songwriter festival in Key West, Florida, where he was performing. He wrote both this song and "Beautiful Crazy" about her before they even started a romantic relationship. The two became engaged in November 2018 and wed at their home in southern Florida on August 1, 2020.
  • Combs wrote the song in 2017 in the mountains of North Carolina with:

    Country singer-songwriter Randy Montana, who also co-penned "Beer Never Broke My Heart."

    Nashville songsmith Dan Isbell, who helped Combs complete "1, 2 Many."
  • Luke Combs performed the song from a nearly empty Bluebird Café stage in Nashville during the 2020 ACM Awards. What You See Is What You Get won Album of the Year and Combs Male Artist of the Year at the ceremony.
  • Combs told Radio.com that fans always loved the song when he performed it in concert so he recorded it for What You See Ain't Always What You Get. He explained they ended up "going with a very stripped-down production of just me and a piano" and was happy the way it turned out.
  • This became Luke Combs' 10th consecutive single to top the Billboard Country Airplay chart. No other artist before Combs had ever accumulated 10 straight #1 hits on that particular tally.

    It also topped the main country chart giving Combs his fourth #1 on the tally following "When It Rains It Pours," "Beautiful Crazy" and "Forever After All."
  • The song originated with a single line Randy Montana had jotted down: "We go together like good ole boys and beer." He recalled to American Songwriter:

    "I thought, 'Oh, that's a funny way of thinking about a couple.' One of the first lines we added was, 'A 40 HP Johnson on a flat bottom metal boat,' and we just started listing those images that go together really well.

    The title, 'Better Together,' just fell out at the top of the chorus. It doesn't end with the title, which is really interesting to me. We didn't even plan on that, it just happened. The creative process just led us to that title, which I love when things happen unexpectedly."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Which Songs are About Drugs?

Which Songs are About Drugs?Fact or Fiction

"25 or 6 to 4" to "Semi-Charmed Life" - see if you can spot the songs that are really about drugs.

Dwight Twilley

Dwight TwilleySongwriter Interviews

Since his debut single "I'm On Fire" in 1975, Dwight has been providing Spinal-Tap moments and misadventure.

Al Kooper

Al KooperSongwriter Interviews

Kooper produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with Dylan and the Stones, and formed BS&T.

Randy Newman

Randy NewmanSongwriting Legends

Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.

Song Cities

Song CitiesMusic Quiz

Nirvana, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen are among those who wrote songs with cities that show up in this quiz.