Brad Paisley and His Secret to Great Songwriting: A Sense of Humor
When it comes to country music, Brad Paisley has it all: superb guitar skills, a voice as smooth as butter, and lyrics that can make you cry, swoon, and laugh…
When it comes to country music, Brad Paisley has it all: superb guitar skills, a voice as smooth as butter, and lyrics that can make you cry, swoon, and laugh all in the same album. While other artists might lean into heartbreak or honky-tonk, Paisley’s secret ingredient is a little rare in the country music industry: a razor-sharp sense of humor.
Albums with a Little Extra
When you listen to Paisley’s albums from beginning to the end, you’re in for a surprise. Oftentimes, he includes skits and outtakes. Aside from these little extras, his sense of humor is always on full display.
One of those humorous hits is 2000's “Me Neither,” about getting rejected by a woman in the bar. The verses were funny from the beginning, but he really brought it home at the end: “We'd never get along / I'm thinking there's no chemistry at all / This has been a waste of time / And I'm running out of lines / Don't you think it's time for me to end this song?”
His 2005 song, “Alcohol,” is a different take on a drinking song where the track was set in the alcohol’s POV, making it funnier: “I can make anybody pretty / I can make you believe any lie / I can make you pick a fight / With somebody twice your size.”
Paisley’s “I’m Gonna Miss Her” sounds like a heartbreak ballad based on the title. But after listening to the lyrics, it’s actually a song that highlights the singer’s priority: “Well I love her/ But I love to fish / I spend all day out on this lake / And hell is all I catch / But today she met me at the door / Said I would have to choose / If I hit that fishing hole today / She'd be packing all her things / And she'd be gone by noon / Well, I'm gonna miss her.”
Brad Paisley: “No One Hates Laughing”
Paisley said to Whiskey Riff that although there are times when he’s not writing funny songs intentionally, he’s just focusing on hooks that sometimes end up making him laugh: “These songs, I just found that sometimes you would start down a path and the best hook made you laugh. And then I started to look for more like that, because no one hates laughing, I would think. If you can make somebody laugh, you’ve done something for them they’ve probably needed. There’s studies that say that.”
