YOU'VE GOT TO STAND FOR SOMETHING

AARON TIPPIN

SONGWRITERS: BUDDY BROCK & AARON TIPPIN

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: YOU’VE GOT TO STAND FOR SOMETHING

LABEL: RCA NASHVILLE

GENRE: COUNTRY

YEAR: 1991

 

         Aaron Dupree Tippin (born July 3, 1958) is an American country musician and record producer. Initially a songwriter for Acuff-Rose Music, he gained a recording contract with RCA Nashville in 1990. His debut single, "You've Got to Stand for Something" became a popular anthem for American soldiers fighting in the Gulf War and helped to establish him as a neotraditionalist country act with songs that catered primarily to the American working class. Under RCA's tenure, he recorded five studio albums and a Greatest Hits package. Tippin switched to Lyric Street Records in 1998, where he recorded four more studio albums, counting a compilation of Christmas music. After leaving Lyric Street in 2006, he founded a personal label known as Nippit Records, on which he issued the compilation álbum Now & Then. A concept album, In Overdrive, was released in 2009.

        Tippin has released a total of nine studio albums and two compilations, with six gold certifications and one platinum certification among them. In addition, he has charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including three Number Ones: "There Ain't Nothin' Wrong with the Radio" (1992), "That's as Close as I'll Get to Loving You" (1995), and "Kiss This" (2000), as well as the top ten hits "You've Got to Stand for Something", "I Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way", "My Blue Angel", "Workin' Man's Ph.D.", "For You I Will", and "Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly".

            You've Got to Stand for Something is the debut album of American country music artist Aaron Tippin. The title track was Tippin's first chart entry, peaking at #6 on the Billboard country charts in 1991. Also released from this album were "I Wonder How Far It Is over You" and "She Made a Memory out of Me", which reached #40 and #54, respectively. "In My Wildest Dreams" would later be recorded by Kenny Chesney as the title track to his 1994 debut album In My Wildest Dreams.

Now Daddy didn't like trouble, but if it came along
Everyone that knew him knew which side that he'd be on
He never was a hero, or this county's shinin' light
But you could always find him standin' up
For what he thought was right
 
He'd say, "You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything
You've got to be your own man not a puppet on a string
Never compromise what's right and uphold your family name
You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything"
 
Now we might've been better off or owned a bigger house
If Daddy had done more givin' in or a little more backin' down
But we always had plenty just living his advice
"Whatever you do today you'll have to sleep with tonight"
 
He'd say, "You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything
You've got to be your own man, not a puppet on a string
Never compromise what's right, and uphold your family name
You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything"
 
And I know that things are different than they were in Daddy's day
But I still believe what makes a man really hasn't changed
 
You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything
You've got to be your own man, not a puppet on a string
Never compromise what's right, and uphold your family name
You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything
You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything.

I'M GONNA MISS HER

BRAD PAISLEY

SONGWRITERS: BRAD PAISLEY & FRANK ROGERS

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: PART II

LABEL: ARISTA

GENRE: COUNTRY

YEAR: 2002

 

            Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting with his 1999 debut álbum Who Needs Pictures, he has released eleven studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nashville label, with all of his albums certified Gold or higher by the RIAA. He has scored 32 Top 10 singles on the US Billboard Country Airplay chart, 19 of which have reached number 1. He set a new record in 2009 for the most consecutive singles (10) reaching the top spot on that chart.

            Paisley has sold over 11 million albums and has won three Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music Awards, 14 Country Music Association Awards, and two American Music Awards. He has also earned country music's crowning achievement, becoming a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Paisley also wrote songs for Pixar's Cars franchise ("Behind the Clouds", "Find Yourself", "Collision of Worlds" (along with Robbie Williams), "Nobody's Fool", etc.).

            "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin' Song)" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Brad Paisley. It was released in February 2002 as the third single from his álbum Part II. The song reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart (then known as the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart) that year, becoming the third number-one hit of Paisley's career. Paisley wrote this song with Frank Rogers.

Well I love her

And I love to fish

I spend all day out on this lake

And hell is all I catch

Today she met me at the door

Said I would have to choose

If I hit that fishin hole today

She'd be packin all her things

And she'd be gone by noon

 

Well, I'm gonna miss her

When I get home

But right now I'm on this lakeshore

And I'm sittin in the sun

I'm sure it'll hit me

When I walk through that door tonight

That I'm gonna miss her

Oh, lookie there, I've got a bite

 

Now there's a chance that if I hurry

I could beg her to stay

But that water's right

And the weather's perfect

No tellin' what I might catch today

 

Well, I'm gonna miss her

When I get home

But right now I'm on this lakeshore

And I'm sittin in the sun

I'm sure it'll hit me

When I walk through that door tonight

That I'm gonna miss her

Oh, lookie there, I've got a bite.

RED RAGTOP

TIM MCGRAW

SONGWRITER: JASON SANDBRINK WHITE

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: TIM MCGRAW AND THE DANCEHALL DOCTORS

LABEL: CURB RECORDS

GENRE: COUNTRY

YEAR: 2002

 

               Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American singer, actor, and record producer. McGraw has released fifteen studio albums (eleven for Curb Records, three for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those albums have reached number 1 on the Top Country Albums charts, with his 1994 breakthrough album Not a Moment Too Soon being the top country album of 1994. All of these albums have produced 65 singles, 25 of which have reached number 1 on the Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay charts. Three of these singles — "It's Your Love", "Just to See You Smile", and "Live Like You Were Dying" — were respectively the top country songs of 1997, 1998, and 2004 according to Billboard Year-End. He has also won three Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music awards, 11 Country Music Association (CMA) awards, 10 American Music Awards, and three People's Choice Awards. His Soul2Soul II Tour, which was done in partnership with his wife, Faith Hill, is one of the highest-grossing tours in country music history, and one of the top 5 among all genres of music. He has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

      McGraw has ventured into acting, with supporting roles in The Blind Side (with Sandra Bullock), Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, Tomorrowland, and Four Christmases (with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon), and The Shack, and lead roles in Flicka (2006) and Country Strong (2010). He was a minority owner of the Arena Football League's Nashville Kats.

        In acknowledgement of his grandfather's Italian heritage, McGraw was honored by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) in 2004, receiving the NIAF Special Achievement Award in Music during the Foundation's 29th Anniversary Gala.

             He has been married to singer Faith Hill since 1996, and is a son of former MLB pitcher Tug McGraw.

           "Red Rag Top" is a song written by Jason White and recorded by American country music artist Tim McGraw. It was released in September 2002 as the first single from McGraw’s álbum Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors. The song peaked at number 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart in early 2003 and reached number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.

I was twenty and she was eighteen

We were just about as wild as we were green

In the ways of the world

 

She picked me up in that red rag top

We were free of the folks and hiding from the cops

On a summer night

Runnin' all the red lights

 

We parked way out in a clearin' in a grove

And the night was as hot as a coal burnin' stove

We were cookin' with gas, knew it had to last

 

In the back of that red rag top

She said, "Please don't stop."

 

Well, the very first time her mother met me

Her green-eyed girl had been a mother-to-be for two weeks

 

I was out of a job and she was in school

And life was fast and the world was cruel

We were young and wild

We decided not to have a child

 

So we did what we did and we tried to forget

And we swore up and down there would be no regrets

In the morning light

But on the way home that night

 

On the back of that red rag top

She said, "Please don't stop

Lovin' me."

 

We took one more trip around the sun

But it was all make-believe in the end

No I can't say where she is today

I can't remember who I was back then

 

Well, you do what you do and you pay for your sins

And there's no such thing as what "might've been"

That's a waste of time

Drive you outta your mind

 

I was stopped at a red light just yesterday

Beside a young girl in a cabriolet

And her eyes were green

I was in an old scene

 

I was back in that red rag top

On the day she stopped

Loving me

I was back in that red rag top

On the day she stopped

Loving me.

I'M NO STRANGER TO THE RAIN

KEITH WHITLEY

SONGWRITERS: SONNY CURTIS & RON HELLARD

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES

LABEL: RCA VICTOR

GENRE: COUNTRY

YEAR: 1988

 

           Jackie Keith Whitley (July 1, 1954 – May 9, 1989) was an American country music singer. During his career, Whitley only recorded two albums but charted 12 singles on the Billboard country charts, and 7 more after his death.

            Born in Ashland, Kentucky, Whitley grew up in nearby Sandy Hook, Kentucky. Whitley began his career there in 1970, performing in Ralph Stanley's band. Establishing himself as a lead singer in bluegrass music, Whitley moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1983 and began his recording career there. His first Top 20 Country Hit single, "Miami, My Amy", was released in 1986. In 1988, his first three singles from his studio álbum Don't Close Your Eyes, the title song, "When You Say Nothing at All" and "I'm No Stranger to the Rain" were number one hits. Years of alcoholism severely compromised his health and he died of alcohol intoxication in 1989 at his Goodlettsville home at the age of 34. His later singles, "I Wonder Do You Think of Me", "It Ain't Nothin'", and "I'm Over You", were released after his death.

         Whitley was born to Faye Ferguson (editor of The Elliott County News) and Elmer Whitley (an electrician) in Ashland, Kentucky, but was raised 46 miles away in Sandy Hook, and attended Sandy Hook High School. He had two brothers, Randy and Dwight, and a sister, Mary. The Whitley family is of English and Scots-Irish descent and has lived in the Elliott County area since the 1840s.

           While Whitley was a teenager in Sandy Hook, he and his friends would pass the time drinking bootleg bourbon and racing their cars down mountain roads at dangerous speeds. Whitley was once in a car whose driver attempted to round a curve at 120 mph. The car wrecked, killing his friend and almost breaking Whitley's neck. In another incident, he drove his car off a 120-foot cliff into a frozen river, escaping with only a broken collar bone.

         Whitley lost his brother Randy in an October 1983 motorcycle accident, and his father Elmer. Most of his family moved to Texas, along with the musician Justin Fulcher.

             "I'm No Stranger to the Rain" is a song recorded by American country music artist Keith Whitley. It was released in January 1989 as the fifth and final single from his álbum Don't Close Your Eyes, and was the last single released during Whitley's lifetime. It peaked at number-one in both the United States and Canada. Joe Diffie covered the song on Whitley's 1995 tribute album. It was written by Sonny Curtis and Ron Hellard.

I'm no stranger to the rain

I'm a friend of thunder

Friend, is it any wonder lightning strikes me

I've fought with the devil

Got down on his level

But I never gave in, so he gave up on me

 

I'm no stranger to the rain

I can spot bad weather

And I'm good at finding shelter in a downpour

I've been sacrificed by brothers

Crucified by lovers

But through it all I withstood the pain

I'm no stranger to the rain

 

But when I get that foggy feeling

When I'm feeling down

If I don't keep my head up, I may drown

But it's hard to keep believing

I'll even come out even

While the rain beats your hope in the ground

And tonight it's really coming down

 

I'm no stranger to the rain

But there'll always be tomorrow

And I'll beg, steal, or borrow a little sunshine

And I'll put this cloud behind me

That's how the Man designed me

To ride the wind and dance in a hurricane

I'm no stranger to the rain

 

Oh, no, I'm no stranger to the rain

 

I'm no stranger to the rain

I'm a friend of thunder

Friend, is it any wonder lightning strikes me

But I'll put this cloud behind me

That's how the Man designed me

To ride the wind and dance in a hurricane

I'm no stranger to the rain

 

Oh, no, I'm no stranger to the rain.