Somewhere Else

Album: Bullets In The Gun (2010)
Charted: 80
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Songfacts®:

  • This character study about a broken-hearted man, who is a Chicago Cubs fan, is a track from country musician Tony Keith's 14th studio album Bullets In The Gun. Keith wrote the song with his frequent collaborator, Nashville singer-songwriter Bobby Pinson.
  • Keith blogged on his website site that this is his favorite track on the album. He explained why: "As a songwriter, it's really clever, wordy and has a lot of craftsmanship, and I really love those kinds of songs. I can just picture that guy walking downtown in his broke-down shoes. I've seen people walk 'til they wore that place off the back of their heels. He takes a back seat at a front door table, then we flip it in the second verse and the neon light he'd been trying to get to becomes the front porch light. He's lonely and cold, eating his cold TV dinner. He's a Cubs fan, and they lose all the time, too. So he's the biggest loser in the world. As light as the song is, it's a serious issue. A very different song for me."
  • Bobby Pinson told the story of the song in an interview with The Boot: "Usually before we do a road trip overseas, I'll fly out to Toby's house [in Oklahoma] and then fly with him to the venue so we don't have to deal with all the customs at the International airports. This time, I got there late to his house. There was a huge thunderstorm happening, so we sat out on his front porch and watched this electric storm, which was pretty cool. We watched it for about two hours.

    We probably didn't start writing until about one in the morning. He had this cool melody, and we changed it a little bit to just meet its own needs.

    The whole theme behind the song was: if you throw your mind into things, they are just going to be what they are and you don't really know where you're going, then you might end up 'somewhere else.' It was just a catchy thing. I always have a saying that goes, 'You don't get to where you're going by going anywhere else.' I use that for numerous things, including the music business. I tell young acts to make up their minds and get where they're going, because you don't get where you're going by doing anything else.

    This [song] is the opposite. This is a heart-broken guy, and he's just trying to get through [life] one day at a time. It's like, "Hey. If you don't know what's going on or you don't know where you're going, you might wind up somewhere else." Sooner than later he would love it if he could wind up in another spot. It's just that simple.

    It's a really cool melody. It's got a groove that we don't always do together. I've never done one like this with Toby, but he's always real open. This thing has definitely got a hipper, cooler thing to it than some of your typical country standards."

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