wellRED podcast - BUBBA SHOT THE PODCAST: "Check Yes Or No"
Episode Date: February 11, 2022We continue our nationally awarded limited series "Four Weeks Strait" and cover what many consider to be George Strait's signature hit. Sweet, romantic, general enough to be beloved by all but just s...pecific enough to be called a country classic, "Check Yes Or No" was a nostalgic masterpiece. But we ask, was it missing something? Does it make sense for 3rd graders to be passing notes? Were Trae and Tushar nerdy losers? Listen along with us, and let's find out.
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They're the...
Bubba shot the podcast and that's right.
A show about country at a time.
This is Bubba shot the podcast.
Gentlemen, first the facts.
Check yes or no is a song written by Danny Wells and Dana Hunt Black.
And it was recorded by our...
our man George Strait and released in September of 1995 as the lead single from his box set straight out of the box.
It peaked at number one on both the U.S. Billboard country charts and Canadian RPM country charts.
It was also included as a bonus track on the UK release version of Blue Clear Sky, not Clear Blue Sky, an album that came out in 1996.
We're doing four weeks straight, gentlemen, as Trey alluded to, before we started recording,
This is the song that most people think of when they think of 90s George Strait country.
I'm going to start with Tushar.
Before we get into the lyrics, before we get into that,
I think this is in arguably his sweetest song.
Now, I realize that you, both as an Indian and as a just deathly cynical man, an outlaw,
probably are not familiar with the general works of George Strait.
but is this song too sweet um yes absolutely it's and it's to its own detriment i understand why i understand
why i understand why what he's doing but it felt like it was an opening to like a 90 sitcom for kids
And that's not bad.
That leads to his mass appeal.
I get it.
But it's a little, as a grown man, you're kind of like, oh, my God, what are we watching here?
Well, I'm going to let everybody comment on that.
For some reason, I knew in my heart I had to come straight to you straight out of the gate.
But I guess we'll start in a little bit more of a standard way and get to these lyrics.
Or, well, no, I want to talk a little bit about the singer-songwriters.
Excuse me, the songwriters.
It's a song written by two people, Dana Hunt Black, a lady from North.
North Carolina. And, oh, I got my wrong person pulled up.
That's why I'm good. And Danny, and Danny Wells, a man from North Carolina.
I got too many pictures. Like, I have like seven pictures today. So I didn't pull up a picture
of Danny, but he looks like if Guy Fieri was on Corey's diet, like the hair's like, you know what I mean?
But like, he's not fat. This was his first hit. This was his first hit. This was his.
first hit in Nashville after being there for 15 years, and he didn't have another one for five more years.
Now, Dawn has had, in the 90s alone, had seven songs in the top 10, but every single one of them was recorded by George Strait.
I always think that's interesting.
This is probably a five-year hit, though, like, in terms of, like, this song was so popular that I bet you it wasn't like, there could be a situation where it's not like he tried and tried and tried and tried and
couldn't get another one for five years, but he was just like, all right.
And then, you know, would spend a lot of time at Santa's pub in five years
and didn't really put pen to paper as much.
Yeah.
Well, perhaps, and you're probably right, although I feel like if you try for 15 years
and you get one and you want another one.
Yeah, for sure.
He's also one of the-
He might have just been laying drunk that whole time.
You know, we don't know.
We don't know.
It could have been a song every day that whole time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, just a number-game for him.
or it could just been drunker and fuck for 20 years and three quarters away through,
bam, check yes or no, you know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Here is my theory.
He is a part of BMI, not the body mass index.
That's the music group.
Exclusive million air club with a million plays on the radio.
This was his first hit.
He was a 2000s guy.
You know what?
Fuck it.
I'm just going to show you all his picture because when I show you his picture, you're like,
yeah, that's a 2000s.
This guy looks like if Mark McGrath got really into Mountain Dew.
Mark McGrath was not
Mark McGrath was not really
Yeah I was about to say
I'm pretty sure
Mark McGrath was selling Mountain Dew
this guy was buying what he was selling
Okay
This is the guy that wrote
Check Yes or No you're about to show us
Yeah
But he was more of a 2000 so
So he didn't have a hit for five years
And then he starts having hits with Rascal Flats
Craig and all these 2000 artists
And I'm saying like
The way
you're describing him sounds rascal like the lead singer rascal flats also to me looks like if guy fiatty
solved mountain dew and was on my diet right for some reason i have to toggle in between the two
so i apologize y'all's okay did rascal flats have anything in the 90s or were they straight
two thousand's i mean in my recollection they were straight 2000 like they're dude
rascal flats is like as two thousands as it gets yeah for sure
Like, I called a t-shirt,
thousand and late, you know what I'm saying?
I called a t-shirt out of a t-shirt can at one of their concerts.
I took a girl to a Rascal Flat show,
and their entire encore was Beatles songs.
Like, they didn't play any of their songs for that.
They played nothing but Beatles songs for their encore.
Gross.
You talk about pissing my daddy off.
When your dad was there?
No, no, I told him about it because I knew it would
him off.
Yeah, right.
He was irate, dude.
You know, it's funny, like, I could, I could see people going either way on that where it's
like, oh, man, how dare they desecrate the name of the Beatles?
That was definitely his stance.
Right.
But then there's my other part that I'd be like, oh, that's cool that they're, you know,
playing the Beatles.
Like, that's nice for them to introduce that to their fans and they clearly like them.
But, yeah, your daddy strikes me as the former, obviously.
Yes.
I get being mad totally, but I think the Beatles are so ubiquitous and such a part of just
culture.
To me, it's like if a comic gets accused of going after Rogan or Chappelle by making a joke about what they've done, and it's like, dude, this is pop culture.
Like, I'm sorry.
That's just how it is.
Yeah, the Beatles are the same as joking about Mickey Mouse.
Like, you know, whatever.
There he is.
Oh, yeah, man.
Dude, he kind of looks like, there's somebody else he looks like, too.
And it's a woman.
I agree.
She was a janitor at my middle school.
Oh, no, mine.
Yes, she does look like a woman who was a janitor for sure.
That's funny.
That's hilarious.
Yes. If you told me that was a picture of the female janitor from your high school, I would have been like, all right, I could see it.
But there is somebody else. No, he, maybe he just got one of them faces because I thought the same thing when he popped up. I was like, he looks like somebody, but.
Danny Bonaducci, maybe.
Yeah, somebody like that's one of those names that's so great for a joke because of how it sounds.
I don't think I know who he is.
Partridge family. People just say Danny Bonaducci, and I'm like, yep, I get it. Red head from the Partridge family.
But yeah, if somebody was a child star and then, you know,
grew up and lost his mind and, uh,
on account of being a child star and everything.
And he's like redheaded and wild and shit.
And he had like public,
public breakdowns and drug addictions and all that stuff.
I don't know how he's doing now,
but he was like one of them.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
The tragic tale, Annie Bonaducci.
Yeah.
I don't know stereotypes are wrong, but redheaded Italians.
I mean, come on.
That's got to be.
I never.
I thought about them that way, but I didn't know those existed.
Yeah, me either.
Well, when I did that DNA thing,
I'm mainly German, but, like, Italian's my second one.
I think it's just because, like, your last name can be Bonaducci,
but that's just because, like, one person in your lineage had that name.
Fucked their way in.
One Italian generations ago.
A Banaducci.
Yeah.
A bonaducci, even though.
That's what it's called when you fuck a redhead, actually.
Oh, he pulled a Baner Badoucci.
Yeah.
It's not even a last name.
It was like a scarlet letter, and then it just became a last name.
All right, here we go.
Let's do some lyrics.
Let's move on from that and get into this very sweet George Strait song.
It started way back in third grade.
I used to sit beside Emmy Lou Hayes.
Pink dress, a matching bow, and her ponytail.
She kissed me on the school bus, but told me not to tell.
Next day, I chased her around the playground.
Cross the monkey bars to the merry-go-round.
and Emmy Lou got caught passing me a note
and before the teacher took it, I read what she wrote.
Do you love me? Do you want to be my friend?
And if you do, well, then don't be afraid to take me by the hand.
If you want to, I think this is how love goes.
Check yes or no.
Tushar, come on, butterflies.
I mean, all right, this.
What kind of notes did you get in third?
third grade in Alabama.
That's when I go back to where you come from.
Thanks, Amy Lou.
No, I'm always surprised at how quickly, uh, growing up, especially like how quickly the
American public would fuck in general.
Without their parents making them.
Yeah, without their parents making them or sending it up in their mid-20s,
you know.
just just the uh how quickly like you get girlfriends and boyfriends yeah boyfriend girlfriends it happens
very quickly these this guy's eight right so no actually i'm glad you said that because i never thought
i wanted to bring that up i want to ask you all about the choice of third grade because like i don't
first of all i have a third grader and a fourth grader right now but also thinking back to when i was a kid
and i was a fat kid it wasn't happening for me no way i wouldn't get i wasn't get no hitting notes either too
are fat kids don't get notes.
I get the yellow starburst that the cool kids don't want to eat, you know, because I think
those are girls.
We got notes.
We got notes to pass it back.
Yeah, pass that on to someone who hits.
Yeah, right.
Yeah, give that somebody.
Wipe your hands before I hand you this note.
Yeah, try not to get chocolate on it, you fat piece of shit.
It's orange.
Anyway, so, fair enough, having said that, but my two sons are not fat.
And all I'm saying is, I don't remember being at all.
all into the stage of having crushes or being into girls or whatever by third grade yet.
And my two boys are both, like, they're both still very much like, girls are gross type
thing, like that kissing is gross, like they're not remotely on that level yet.
And I know every kid's different or whatever, but I never thought anything about that lyric in
this song, but now it's relevant to my life.
So I'm thinking about it.
And it's like, is that, was that y'all's experience?
Were you already doing that?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I went on my first date in kindergarten.
I asked a girl on a date.
Yeah, we were getting them notes.
Sorry, boys.
Yeah.
We were getting dared.
You don't remember, like, I got, like, like a girl would have a crush me,
start passing notes.
She would become my girlfriend and then the class would dare us to kiss when the teacher left the room.
Yeah.
Now, that probably didn't start happening until fifth grade, but like, you know,
we have built to that for a couple years.
Yeah.
Yeah, I don't know.
Like I said, the boys just don't.
They have no interest.
in anything like that.
Like any kind of romance or anything like that is like gross to them.
So my niece is in third grade.
She has like a different boy that she says likes her every week.
And it's very dramatic.
Like it's very much like in Gentry said that he didn't really like me.
But then I talked to Silas and Silas is like I do like you.
And so I told Gentry you're not my friend anymore.
And like, you know, she's got a whole world of characters that are.
involved in her love life.
So that might be a very American thing.
And if it is, I think we get it from, I think
she gets it from TV and TikTok.
Yeah, movies and stuff, yeah.
Right. Okay. I don't know.
It also is possible that maybe mine just
don't tell me or Katie about any
of that type of stuff that happens because they feel
weird about that part of it or whatever.
But it just doesn't seem to be a thing.
And I don't remember it being a thing
at that point either. But again, it's different
for me. And too sure.
You didn't. You don't know. I just didn't know. I feel. I feel like
Guys, guys developed so much later.
Like women, girls develop, like, those feelings come online way earlier.
I've always been pretty evolved, though.
So I guess it's different for me.
Yeah, Corey definitely got his period in third grade.
I matured early.
Is that what you mean, like, development like that or just like...
Well, I thought that, like, having their brains think about love.
Girls definitely get their quicker.
When all that was, like, really came online, I thought.
Yeah.
Yeah, which definitely is not third grade.
But I think like princess stories and then how that transmutes into like being in a relationship, like girls play house.
They talk about having husbands and, you know, at a younger age.
I think some of this is very cultural for sure.
Right.
Oh, yeah.
So I'm agreeing with what Tuchar's saying, but I don't think it's just like related to physiology.
I think that culture tells little girls about the love story.
That's true.
Definitely.
Because now that I'm thinking back on it, so much of it, like it happened in our.
church too and it wasn't like there was no kissing and it wasn't any like physical attraction it
just seemed like the girl's like I need a husband that's what you're supposed to do like we should you
know what I mean like otherwise we won't be less yeah exactly and like I'll I'll be worthless
because otherwise I'm just an old-made woman that's worthless like I got you know I got a guy
that's why I'm like that that ought not be of course that or not be and it's funny that even
though these girls thought to themselves I need a man more than anything they still did not want
you were too sure not even remotely for different completely different reasons well before we
open up uh fat one overlapping reason yeah yeah overlap your pants a belt line yes let's get into this video
let's get into this video because there's so many things i want to talk about with this video
and kind of touching on some of it so it starts in a classroom and the video this is one of the
most direct to the song videos we've seen yeah like there is almost almost
no separation. It is just as if someone went out and shot this line by line. So in the
beginning, they're in a classroom. Someone gets past the note. I'm going to go ahead and read
the second verse and then we're going to get into that part of the video. Now we went from
third grade. This is the second verse. I did not skip a verse. Third grade was the first verse.
Second verse. Now we're grown up and she's my wife. Still like two kids with stars in our
eyes. Ain't much changed. I still chasing me Lou up and down the hall around
the bed in our room.
Now that's scandalous for George Strait.
Yeah.
Last night, I took her out in a white limousine.
White limo.
20 years.
20 years together, she still gets to me.
20 years of Tushar doing that joke, it still gets to me.
Me too.
Can't believe it's been,
can't believe it's been that long ago when we got started with just one little
note. And then, of course, we repeat the chorus twice.
And then we check yes or no four times in a row on the way out.
That's the whole song.
here's my first problem immediately is that you know and you've brought this up a lot
and how there's a there's a ton of two verse songs in country and I don't like that either
and in this song specifically what immediately loses points with me because I do like this song is
like there definitely should be a second verse where they're in high school or college and
maybe they don't hit for each other yeah or something like there needs to be like he had to
punch somebody or she started dating a quarterback and then he has to win her back like this
is just like everything's been good for us the whole time do do do do do to do to do
well it's that like saccran 90s sitcom sweetness thing you know what I mean like what you just
said wouldn't work in that with that tone which is like the whole tone of of this song you know
what I mean yeah that's true but I mean there's no like drama or anything either way though
there still could be another purely sweet verse about the middle portion of their life
you know what I mean?
Like even if you're staying in the same tone,
it could be like, yeah,
she was a cheerleaderize the quarterback.
Although the casting in this,
that boy was no goddamn quarterback.
I can't believe.
Dude,
I cannot fucking believe what about these crackers in this video.
I was sitting here thinking,
I honestly respect George Strait more after this video
because I'm telling you right now,
I know me as a person.
If the casting director had come to me and be like,
and this is who we've got playing you,
I'd be like, fucking next.
Get that little bitch to fuck out of here.
This dude is a singer, okay?
And I don't know if that had anything to do with it.
He is an actor, a singer-songwriter named Michael Ray Ryan.
I did not look into his background.
There's a reason why you're going to find out in a minute I got distracted.
But I agree with you all.
I did wonder if he was like on the label.
You know, he'd been opening for George that year or whatever,
trying to give a man in glasses a break.
He looks like fucking bubbles.
Here we go.
Yeah.
Oh, no.
That's not good.
That ain't it.
That just ain't it, is it?
Now, one of the reason I did this screenshot,
doesn't this look like a Cinnamax softcore porn?
Yeah.
Like that's what they're watching?
No, that's what we're watching right now.
Dude, he looks like a,
I don't know,
he looks like a guy that would be committing a hate crime
in a 50s movie or something.
Yes, absolutely.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Like, that, like there was a 50s type.
of white it was just real real white yeah he's like the neighbor who calls yeah maybe on the
defensive line but not on my offense you know that whole thing going on the only way this guy could
be even remotely anything other than just like the least plain boring vanilla guy i could see
him in a movie being kaiser sozi like this dude's playing just the dwebiest most unappealing
least scary guy and then the last
15 minutes you find out he's the mastermind
behind it all. Yeah, I mean
he could be like a riddler type motherfucker
which is like the reason that they end up doing that is
because they're such a nerdy dweeb their whole
fucking life that they're living on the fringe.
Oh, this dude was bullied.
Yeah, for sure.
He's a little bit quagmire too.
A little giggity in his face.
His face right there is a little giggity for sure.
You're right.
Like the dude
it, he had somebody
had to, this dude is connected some
to the George Strait universe, I think.
I don't think this guy just got cast.
Well, yeah, he's a singer songwriter.
That's what I'm saying.
Somebody asked him,
hey, buddy, you want to play this in my video or what,
like, it's got to be something like that.
Because I just don't.
Otherwise, why would they pick this dude for like the rom-com male lead?
To be young George Strait.
Well, see, I don't know.
It's not young George Strait, yeah.
And I think maybe that's on purpose.
like he's intentioned saying like everybody right that he's like making a point the song is about me
and my wife you know like i hit right now it was a big critique of 90s and early 2000 sitcoms that
they would have a schlubby often stand-up comic guy and then they would put him with a woman that
was clearly out of his league so perhaps this is just part of that but i i think that his connection
as a singer-songwriter to someone at the label or whatever is what happened here now this
is the lady.
Now, her name is Don Wagner.
Yeah, that's whatever.
You saw, you see her here,
and then you saw her in the limo.
They had her in a little mom-looking dress.
This is a very sweet, saccharine thing.
Don Wagner was the founder of,
I want to make sure I'm going to say it right.
What was it called?
The Texas Bikini Open.
Oh, hell yeah.
Okay.
All right.
Okay.
Here is Dawn.
Show me.
Yeah, boys.
Okay.
Absolutely.
Check yes.
I didn't just bring this up to give us some eye candy.
Although, sure, that was part of it.
I think it's genuinely hilarious that casting in Nashville is like, I don't know, shrewd enough to be like, if we're going to make a music video,
we got to get this chick with flowers on her titties.
I mean, come on.
This is a music video.
It's all about the visual.
But then when they go to make the video,
it's still country music and it's George Strait.
They make her look like this.
Oh, what are you saying that she can only play tits out, McGee, Drew?
You don't think she has range?
I'm saying that you can,
you don't have to go recruit the founder of the Texas Bikini Open.
if you're not going to use her.
I bet she was just...
Let the bull run, son.
I'd say that they...
Let's get on the street, not the garage.
I'd say that she didn't...
They didn't have to go get her neither.
She was probably just already, like,
in the circle of people.
You know what I mean?
Like, the dudes in the country music world
are like, hey, I wonder what Don's doing.
You know what I mean?
I bet they were buddies.
You know?
Drew wants Don to pull her titties out
in the check yes or no video.
He's like, why is there no sex scene?
What does I do it?
I mean, I don't get it.
Come on.
You're going to get a one-trick horror for a video.
God damn it.
Let her do the trick.
You know what I mean?
That's Drew.
I'm quoting Drew.
I'm not,
that's not me.
No.
Sure, man.
So, I want to say it.
Thinking back on my,
thinking back on my fat not hitting youth,
I want to clarify something with the two of you that did hit.
So I think,
hold on now.
I did not hit.
I just hit harder than you did.
You had dates in kindergarten.
and so.
But she,
yeah,
but like,
she checked no.
Are we in agreement that culturally,
and it's been in movies and stuff,
like there's,
it's a phase for boys rule,
girls drool.
Yeah.
He man,
woman,
haters club,
whatever that was from.
Like,
little boys hating girls.
And then at a certain point in their life,
suddenly,
girls are the only thing that matters,
you know,
when their balls drop or whatever.
That's a thing,
of course.
We're agreeing that that is a thing.
Yes, and I didn't know.
And are y'all saying that that thing, that had already happened by third grade?
I'm telling you,
that's what I was saying earlier.
I never subscribed to it, which is.
You know, I'm saying,
you're saying it was both.
No, not me.
I was like, yeah, girls suck.
And then I was like, my face later, you know what I mean?
I never, I never subscribed to that, which I think is why I got so much pussy in elementary school.
You know what I mean?
It was like just me.
Okay.
Fair enough.
And I was in more of a, yeah, that palsy, that makes sense for y'all.
But I'm operating under a different MO over here.
Yeah, of course.
Girls were really good at sports.
Like, I was very popular in elementary school.
Yeah, I'd feel that way too if I didn't hit.
You know what I mean?
I was like, yeah, man.
I didn't invent that.
I didn't.
No, you didn't.
No, you didn't.
You did.
Somebody fat-dum-and-don-hit did.
Fat-dum-don-hit invention.
Yeah.
God-damn alfalfa, there's a reason that little fucking...
Some of them of the bruscles was pretty cool.
Like, yeah, Spanky hit.
Right.
I'm saying, like, this is like Hollywood movie shit we're talking about here.
Yeah.
Maybe it's all...
Maybe it's fat, dumb and don't head all the way down when it comes to this.
I'm just saying, like, I don't remember any of my friends, like, caring at all about
girls and shit until, like, middle school, like, puberty age.
And that's true.
I think I cared about attention.
Do what?
I cared about attention.
Like I got a note.
Me too.
Brian got a note.
And that was pretty much it.
It was like, all right.
Well, girls suck, but this note rules.
Yeah.
I mean, if a little boy had been into me and the church hadn't told me otherwise, I'd probably
went that way too.
It was just the attention.
I agree with you, Drew.
That's a good point.
Okay.
I think boys surely go through a little, like, in cell phase.
like a natural
girls are gross
they're the enemy type of thing
so that's what I know that
even this song
I have first first
the first first is
they're just
they seem to just be chilling
and then
she kissed him
and then said
don't tell anyone
she's the aggressor
clearly
yeah check no means no
so you're right
that's also a big thing too
like I remember
not me
but I don't
remember some of my friends, and this plays into what you're talking about, Trey,
uh, it's definitely backs it up.
It's definitely true.
I remember some of my friends at being like, oh, Austin kissed a girl.
No, I did.
And I was like, I saw him.
You know, I'm not going to rattle my boy, but like, what has happened here?
I mean, that's, that song was a taunt that, you know, Justin and Jessica sitting in a
tree.
Oh, you're right.
Like that was, that wasn't them, that wasn't people going, this is cool that you did that
they were going like, what a little freak.
Look at them.
And because you'd always be like, oh, no, we weren't on.
Right.
It really is a very, you little freak.
That song is very much like little freaks.
Of course I agree.
I know what you're talking about.
I'm an outlier day.
I was feeling like I was fucking crap.
I was like, damn, was it just that I was a bad dip shit?
Like, am I the only one?
No.
It feels this way about any of this shit.
But y'all are making me feel better now.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
I'm an outlier.
Feeling crazy over here.
Speaking which, listen, I'm about that to get off here.
a minute because I had a meeting get moved on me so I might to go unfortunately.
This is just, you already said it up top.
The quintessential George Strait 90s country song in my opinion.
It's like, I don't know if it's literally his biggest hit or what numbers wise,
but it's like the first thing that comes to mind when I think of George Strait in the
90s is this song.
So yeah, y'all keep having fun with him.
And I will say.
And I will say when we get into next week, we will get into the slightly darker side
of George Stray.
I don't think George is only this,
and we're going to get into it next week.
But appreciate you, Tracey.
I'll see you later, buddy.
All right.
Let me share a screen to make the video look better.
Actually, here's what I want to share.
Here's a screenshot from this video.
I would, I'd be glad that you're doing this.
And here is a screenshot.
Yep.
From last week's?
Yes.
I'm the theory that it's all of one big jib jab is like,
I'm telling you.
Where is it?
I don't think George Strait was even there for either of the shoots.
I think they've adobeed his head into stuff.
They did something.
Like, look at that.
Yeah, something's off.
I'm telling you, like, it's a clabber shot one.
It's a cardboard cut out or like they've just like, George,
he put all them balls on him and did that stop motion thing and was just like,
look, you all just do the videos, but I ain't going to be there.
You know what I mean?
Right.
Something's up.
He does not look real.
No.
And he don't look real anyway.
Do you think he might have got work done?
Maybe.
Yeah, I mean, like, I'm certain that as of right now in 2022, the man has had work done,
just because he's a high profile celebrity, like they just kind of all do.
But, like, it's possible that at that time, you know, he was feeling the pressures of,
like, oh, I hit in the 80s and now there's all these fresh-faced stars coming in.
I've got to make my smile lines even up or whatever.
It wouldn't surprise me.
That's a thing.
Drew, you're muted.
It could just be bad makeup.
That's a thing.
It could be bad makeup for sure.
Because what people don't understand about makeup is that it is not a one-size-fits-off situation.
You know, everybody has their tone.
And there's some shades that, depending on the makeup company, just don't kind of jive with the pH balance of your skin.
Right, this is makeup right here.
And you can see it real bad.
I thought that was a Band-Aid.
It is.
I was just being stupid.
Oh, okay.
Dude, you're in a very tiny screen for me, and I was like, okay, my man just has a bad makeup on.
What'd you do?
Basketball?
No.
I probably have, not really probably.
Oh, yeah.
I might have cancer.
Yeah.
Anyway, let's move on.
Let me shut the podcast.
Let's get back to the story a little bit.
That we've blown through these lyrics because I wanted to get to the music video.
But let's go back to, I guess it was Corey's point.
Generally, I mean, this is such a far-reaching story.
We've gone from third grade to taking around in a white limousine.
And you feel like they've been together a little while, right?
But then you think about it.
I guess they're 28, right?
Oh, yeah, that's true.
Yeah, at this time, they definitely at least had an eight-year-old.
You know what I'm saying?
So this is the beginning and the not end, but like where we are now's portion of a 20-year-story and nothing in the middle.
We've already talked about that.
but it's almost too much.
This really is a song that's popular because the hook and the melody were so undeniable.
Yeah, man, I mean, it's fun to hear.
Like, when I listen to it, I babysat my niece,
and so I listen to this song like two or three times on my way back home from there
just to re-familiarize myself with it.
And it's one of those that now when you're, you know, throwing out the lyrics,
I'm just like, my rating goes down a little bit,
but at the same time I'm just like, but I really like it.
like I like hearing it when it comes on the car.
Like it's got,
like you said,
it's got an undeniable melody and it's,
it's clever.
It also invokes for me,
obviously not Trey and Tuchner,
but for me it invokes very real memories,
you know,
so there's something to that.
Of course we need Trey.
Is it invoke or evoke?
Hmm,
probably evoke.
I think you invoke something,
like a third amendment,
you invoke the fifth.
It evokes,
yeah.
This one,
Evoke and invoke to me are the, well, except and except, I know now, but there's one,
there's effect and effect.
I have problems with that sometimes.
You know what I mean?
Effect is a noun.
Effect is a verb.
Noun and verb.
You know what I mean?
Sometimes with those.
You know, I, you know, I.
They can be confusing, you know, like, beer me that beer.
Exactly.
Tushar, do we have any, any, you know, I mean, is it a stretch here?
I know that is this like, is there a song about writing to somebody's parent, like one mother to another mother, check yes or no, will you accept my son?
It's like a dowry form.
Yeah.
Do you want all these goats?
Check yes or no.
Are you down for the terms of this engagement, this contract?
It's more culture.
Are you going to wear an insane pink and yellow dress?
Check yes or no.
I can't think of the Indian equivalent,
but I will say, going back to the earlier point,
she's the aggressor the whole way through.
She kissed him.
And then she's the one who passes this note.
And the funny thing about the note is like,
do you love me or do you want to be my friend?
It's almost like, you know, they're eight years old.
And she's like, are we bullshined or not?
What are we doing?
They're divorced now.
They're divorced now for the record.
Of course, of course.
I mean, it doesn't always happen.
that way, but like, you see it all the time in the South because, like, there is that,
Drew brought it up earlier.
There is that, like, Christian culture of like, hey, we, uh, you can't have sex until you get
married.
And of course, everybody biologically wants to have sex.
So you end up having these people who got together in high school and they end up getting married
right out of high school just because they want a bone.
And then you realize, like, oh, they justify the boning they've been doing.
Right.
Or they got pregnant and it's a shotgun thing.
But then they realize like, oh, they're pregnant, dude.
It's like deeper than that.
Yeah. You're right.
You took my virginity.
You have to be my husband.
Because if not, yeah, I can't carry you.
I'll get all small at lettered.
But I mean, it's real.
And then I think like it doesn't take that long for them to realize,
oh my God, the only thing we had in common was we wanted to fuck each other.
And there's so much about the world we don't know.
So I'm saying if there was a song written about this same couple today, they're divorced.
I mean, there's, I bet you that's who he gave it away to.
There you go.
That's what it is.
what do you wait what do you mean
give it away there ain't
nothing in this house worth
fighting over that's who
that's this this the same universe
I was not somebody
I said Toby Keyes definitely wrote
some of those songs but you're right
George has a couple
yeah definitely have a couple
yeah when you're 17
you know all you have in common
is that you're 17 like you know what I mean
like like an evanescence
they're going to keep a relationship together
good year
would be really sweet if it did
it was funny there was a girl in high school that me and her used to duet that evanescent song at karaoke she would do the
she would do the girl and we fucking nailed it and that could have got us through here
where was karaoke there's a place called um god damn it it was the something and it's also the place i saw
candlebox and fingered my first butt i can't remember what it's called though that's a gypsy speedboat song
saw a candlebox and finger my first book
was released in 1974.
Joe dogs.
Wait, wait, wait.
Do we have a rap version of this?
I don't think we did.
I don't think so.
I was trying to look, yeah.
There's nothing to sweet in rap.
No, I mean, yeah, and this is no offense at all.
Rap goes way too hard for this.
Maybe.
Rep doesn't ask a lot of questions.
There may be an R&B song that it does this, maybe.
But I just, like, most,
country songs at least the ones that you guys have you know we've done on the show look back at
hard times almost nostalgically she left or something you know whatever something happened and i'm
looking back at it and we were poor mama made me a whore man yeah yeah all them there this is like
man this was great jenny and forest hit it off and he wasn't retarded and they she didn't get a
this is the story it's like it's like boring forrest gump i know the song
I've got the rap song.
It's My Main Bitch by DJ Mustard.
DJ Mustard coming through.
Yeah, my main bitch.
Chishar, I don't know if we've got into this with you,
but it's worth bringing up.
You may be aware of it, you may not.
I am interested to hear your response.
You said that about R&B.
I don't know if we've ever told you,
but R&B and country were quite literally made by the same people,
as recently as like the 70s.
What happened was Hillbilly Music and Black Music
was made in the same places.
basically by the same people,
and the record companies decided, perhaps correctly,
I don't know,
that black people wouldn't buy white music
and white people wouldn't buy black music.
So they separated them.
Well, it's bullshit now.
It might have been true in the 50s.
I don't think it was either in the 40s.
So they separated them.
And the same artists and musicians were making the same music,
and then they would just put it out by different artists
from the same record company
and sell it to two different groups with a different front man.
Now, that's obviously evolved and changed in various ways.
but one way that it hasn't is there are many songs that R&B people released in the 90s
and a country singer released in the 90s.
Right back to back.
Basically at the same time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Michael Montgomery and all for one.
In sync.
Had I swear at the same time.
Insync and Alabama had one at the same time.
God must have spent a little more time on you, I think was the one.
That is like in sync.
Yeah, like that was like such.
Brian McKnight wrote his own R&B song.
or he and his producer did.
He was kind of like a real R&B artist
and then sold some to country stars.
Yeah, there was like some boys to men
that I know some fucking country did.
And for the record, those are situated
because the reason I know is both versions
would be played at our middle school dances
and both versions usually hit for all of us regardless.
Of course.
Yeah, right.
It hit for poor white kids.
And we were like, I can't believe these black people
are stealing our shit.
Our parents were about to say.
Our parents were not that,
but our parents would be like,
oh man they did a new version of that song and I'd be like this is the old version dad
come on my room you smell like coal yeah I don't know why but that was yeah there was always that
I don't know you know how racism just be yeah there was just like well clearly we can do
nothing to change this I guess we'll make a dollar off of it
Yeah, I do remember, and it wasn't like maybe people were mad,
but I do remember it was always like any time, like,
you'd hear an R&B, so they're, Alabama did this, Alabama did this, Alabama.
We're like, okay, well, it's them now, I think.
With Brian McNight, if I'm not mistaken, it was like, no, he literally wrote this song.
Yeah.
I could be wrong about that, but I'm pretty sure that's the type of artist Brian McKnight was.
And, you know, he was just like, yeah, I'll sell it to these white people.
Fuck yeah, bro.
Otherwise.
Yeah.
Hell yeah
I do
So why was this song
So big?
Was it because of its purity
Or is just because George Strait hits
And it's one of his hits
I mean and there's that listen
At this point
It's one of his biggest hits
So it can't just be that it's George
Was it early in his catalog or like later on?
No
No no no
I mean dude first off what Drew said is
True like George Strait pretty much
At this point in his career could do no wrong
And there could be a song that like
Yeah if somebody else put it out
it might not hit, but if George does, it's going to.
But like, it's catchy as fuck.
You know?
Like, it's catchy.
Well, actually, let's get into that.
Everybody wants to believe this is them, too.
Does George Street have any, like, actually challenging songs?
Yeah.
Or are they all kind of...
I can still make Cheyenne is very challenging in my opinion.
Now, we are in the era right now of him not doing that
and making millions of dollars.
Next week, and let's prime it.
Let's get everybody excited.
We're going to do Cheyenne.
And Cheyenne's a little darker and a lot sadder.
And it's a real song with a real story to tell.
And Corey and Trey think it's his greatest song ever.
Without question.
I am very much in the camp that it's Amarillo by morning, which thematically is kind of the same as Cheyenne.
Garth Brooks agrees with me.
I just want to throw that out there.
He said it live at his concert.
Garth Brooks don't hit for you.
Garth Brooks hits for me super hard.
I don't have for you, Shahr.
When we saw Garth Live, he said,
I'm going to play the best George Strait song of all time,
and then he played Amarroo about morning.
We can't do it on this podcast, Too Shard,
because it came out in 88.
My point is,
early George Strait had a lot of sad cowboy songs.
Yes.
And in the 90s, we saw his shift into,
basically, this gets back to the thing about being the king.
He shifted into what was the most pop form of pop country at that time,
while Garth was ushering in a new version of pop country at that time.
It's just a, I don't know, it's an interesting thing.
Did he get older?
Did he stop Karen?
Or did this fans just react better?
Like, I bet his B-sides on these albums had some darkness to him.
I just think people didn't like him as much.
So is it like, I view it as almost like he's like Disney-Fied.
Yes.
Okay, so that's understood that he was like, he's making 400,000 a show.
So let's keep that thing cooking with kids and, you know, make it a whole family event.
And it was good.
I think Disney's the perfect analogy where it's like, yeah, he's doing what you're saying and he's doing it really well.
And you're about to hear, you're about to get into, you know that early Disney?
Too sure, you know them early Disney's.
Fuck up.
I'm about to get into that next week.
Some fucked up shit.
Is that Crow, racist?
Yeah.
I want to get into some.
I want to go back to the lyrics real quick.
And then we can ramp it up and boat and all.
that. You were talking about how catchy it is. Why was this so popular? I have a theory too
about the catchiness. The melody is obviously great, so there's musical reasons. But I think there are
lyrical reasons. Now, the story itself, as we said, is too sweet for us. But first of all,
a lot of people love that. A lot of women, a lot of men, they just want to look at life and go,
yeah, that's how it is. Isn't it nice? And songs are an escape of, you know, their actual
horrible marriage, or whatever the situation is. Or, you know, you are in love at,
you're 20 and you think that's going to be us in eight years,
not knowing that you're both going to get fat and unhappy.
That aside, this chorus,
do you love me, do you want to be my friend, and if you do?
Well, then don't be afraid to take me by the hand if you want to.
That is an A, A, A, B, C, A, B, C, Rimesc.
And then you end it with, I think this is how love goes,
check yes or no,
D.D. in that one. Like, you got it completely new. That is,
I don't know enough about iambic pentameter to say that that's Shakespearean,
but I'm pretty sure that if we had a poetry teacher on here to break that down,
that is pretty classic use of syllables and rhyme scheme right there. That just like
tickles the fucking brains of at least Western civilization. I was, I was going to
bring up what this song lacks in like dynamic lyrics. It more than makes up for in
dynamic rhyme scheme.
It takes pretty simple words,
but like you said,
it carries them like this
instead of like this.
It's kind of,
you know what I mean?
Like,
don't be afraid to take me.
Like that's a,
you don't see that a lot.
It's usually A, B, A, or whatever the fuck.
Yeah.
Good shit.
Too Shard doesn't care about anything.
He doesn't give a fuck.
Fantastic.
It's like,
Two short's like, why does this work?
I'm like, well, here's why.
It's actually kind of Shakespearean.
He's like, all right, little dude.
He's like, I've gotten over being impressed by the fact that you hillbillies know how to read like four episodes ago.
I need more than that.
Oh, we get it.
You guys like the Bible.
You know I equate George straight to?
I equate him to like the Nick Sabin.
of country music or something.
Okay.
Like he's the guy.
He's undeniable.
He's everyone's guy and he has been for a very long time.
That's pretty good.
The only thing I'll say is better.
Me too,
because the only thing I'll say is that like,
there's a large group of people who despise
and can't stand Nick Saban,
and I don't see that with George Strait.
You know what I mean?
Also, Nassavon is Garth and George Strait.
Like, he's undeniable.
George Strait is bigger.
but you can definitely argue that people are better or more popular or whatever you know what i mean like
there's questions there with nick sabin like that's the thing about sports though you know it kind of
it's why you can't be can't be a little bit more objective yeah it's like it's like yeah it's like yeah it's like
you know just if he keeps doing it and he stay doing it yeah all right yeah this was a short episode um
it's it's it's i think it's obvious we're probably about
voted pretty low down, maybe not,
excuse me, that we weren't as, I don't know,
turned on by this particular song as a group.
I think that's fine because I'm telling you folks,
if you like Bubba shot the podcast,
tune in next week.
We are going to have a fucking argument.
And the song itself is so fucking good.
And the story's good,
and I can't wait for too shard to hear it.
Yeah, and I'll be the first.
you're going to hear a good argument,
but you're also just going to straight up hear me gush.
Because it's not just one of my,
it's not my favorite George Strait song.
It's like,
it's like,
it could be on my Mount Rushmore
of just like all country in general.
And I'm including fucking George Jones and shit.
I love that fucking song.
But anyways,
that's not about it.
I don't even think it's his best one.
That's what kind of podcast you're getting next week.
Yeah.
All right.
Sue Shar, get excited.
Crowd listening.
Get excited.
Bubba shut the podcast.
podcast next week.
Let's rate this.
Check yes or no,
George Straits,
1995, I think we said hit,
that stars a bikini model
in the video,
as well as a guy
who looks like he's going to murder
George Strait.
What's your rating?
I want to do...
Okay.
I'm going to go first.
I think I'm going to give this
lower than I thought I would.
I'm going to go,
I'm going to give it
a two
earnouts.
That's probably our
because it is
just too
happy.
It's like
it's like love at first sight
power.
It's too much.
There's no conflict
in this thing.
And then if you,
if you listen to this thing
with his,
you know,
his perfect teeth
and his glamour shot hat,
like it's a little,
this is too much.
Just reminded me.
I made this the picture.
because I've got all these other ones where he looks a little better.
There's pain in these eyes.
Yeah, oh, for sure.
Yeah, for sure.
But where's it in this song, buddy?
Yeah.
Exactly.
Well, we'll hear it next week.
And also, before I let Corey Vod, I just reminded this.
In this video, he plays guitar.
And I see him making a D in a G shape.
Yeah, instead of just holding it and...
Yeah.
So he at least knows how to pretend.
Right, for sure.
Yeah.
Hell, I know how to pretend.
You can make a G-shape?
Yeah.
Okay.
Then you can play.
Go ahead.
I can a little bit.
I just, you know.
So here's what I'm going to do with my rating.
I'm going to, in order to get to my true rating, I'm going to go through my, I'm going to, what is my audience score and what is my Rotten Tomato score.
And I'm going to combine those to give the actual answer because I'm conflicted on this song.
Because my audience score, how it actually just makes me feel when I'm driving down the road and what I want to
say is two and two-thirds.
You know what I mean? Because I just love it.
It puts me in a good mood. But then when I sit here
and think about it critically,
and I listen to the lyrics, what my rotten tomato
score is, is a two.
Therefore, I'm going to combine those together
and I'm going to give it two and one-thirds
Earnhardt. All right.
I have a similar situation.
But instead of how it makes me feel
driving down the road, I'm going to say how it makes
clearly most people who like country music feel
driving down the road. This is
biggest hit, I think, or at least his biggest hit
in the 90s. I could be wrong on that, but it seems
like it was. It was definitely all over
CMT and the radio. I think
this song is a three
to most people who like country
music, but it is a two
to me. So I have to
and since we're sticking with thirds,
I can't go two and a half.
I got to decide if the audience
is right, and this probably gets just at the core
of my being when it comes to art.
No, fuck them. This is two and a third.
Two and a third all the way. There you go.
see we bought.
Trey gave it
two and two-thirds.
He gave it two and two-thirds.
Now, I think if he just stuck around
for the whole episode,
he would have ended up being like,
yeah, you're right.
But he gave it two and two-thirds
because he said it was a big part of his job.
He changed his mind one time,
and he brought it up every episode
for three straight episodes.
Yeah, but, and like,
I had to give it that because, like,
two, because, like,
I know exactly what I'm going to do next week.
Like, you don't even have to,
you don't even have to ask me next week.
knows how I'm going to fucking write that song.
So because of that, I have to go, where is this
in relation to that? And it's two and one third.
But by the way, for the record,
I fucking still love this song.
We're probably going to end up having a situation
where I rate a song one and one third Earnhardt's,
but still I'm like, however,
I fucking bump that shit.
You know what I mean?
I have no plans of doing this podcast long enough
to get to a one and one third Earnhardt song
unless it just happens to be some song
that one of us just hates
and but it is undeniably
all I'm saying
is that I don't hate this song
but now that we're you know
we're kind of refining our palette and if I'm looking
at it from a lyrical standpoint I have to give
this a two you know like
in that in that where I guarantee you there's going to be
some songs that I genuinely do love
having on and listening to but when
I'm really honest with myself I can go
yes but that's not really
a good song but now I'm thinking about
the poetry of it and I'm leaning
I'm leaning the other way.
It's the contrary to me,
but you just said when I look at the lyrics of it,
and I thought,
well, when I look at the lyrics of it,
I can't help but notice.
If there was three verses.
Perfect poetry.
Yeah, but this one really suffers from not having a third verse.
Some don't,
but this one really suffers from not having a third verse,
in my opinion.
And this one's now like,
check yes,
no, maybe.
It's like hyper nostalgic,
because I would imagine no one in school
passes notes anymore.
even third graders?
I bet that they do.
You're not allowed to text in school.
Oh, okay.
You know how to count.
Our people can read and write.
Every generation, even the new ones.
When will you stop with this?
We have been able to since like 1940 something, all right?
I'm just imagining a little kid
opening up a note that he got in school,
and it's just fucking swastika written on it nowadays.
It's just one of their, oh.
It's like a QR code that leads to a swastika.
Yeah.
Real evolves.
Yeah.
All right.
Weird ending to this one.
It got weird, and I'm not sure what happened.
Kids love Nazis now.
I don't think that's true.
Do you love Nazis?
Yes or no.
Phew.
Bubby shout the podcast, and that's right.
A show about country at it's high.
Don't expect no shit from two.
2005 overshot the podcast and that's right
