Tim McGraw "Live Like You Were Dying" Album
Tracklisting & Lyrics
1.
How Bad Do You Want It lyrics »
2.
My Old Friend lyrics »
3.
Can't Tell Me Nothin' lyrics »
4.
Old Town New lyrics »
5.
Live Like You Were Dying lyrics »
6.
Drugs Or Jesus lyrics »
7.
Back When lyrics »
8.
Something's Broken lyrics »
9.
Open Season on My Heart lyrics »
10.
Everybody Hates Me lyrics »
11.
Walk Like a Man lyrics »
12.
Blank Sheet of Paper lyrics »
13.
Just Be Your Tear lyrics »
14.
Do You Want Fries With That lyrics »
15.
Kill Myself lyrics »
16.
We Carry On lyrics »
Reviews
On the back cover of his ninth album Tim McGraw sits atop a horse, which just happens to be standing in the foyer of an elegant home. McGraw sits backwards in the saddle, looking not at where he's going, but where he's been. The image tips off the theme of this solid, 16-song album--for a singer who doesn't write, it's as close to autobiography as it gets. "How Bad Do You Want It," for example references not only bluesman Robert Johnson's crossroads chat with ol' Lucifer, but also the kind of relentless drive that got McGraw to the top of the Nashville heap. The dryly funny "Back When" finds the man who recently bought a $6.4 million Beverly Hills mansion yearning for a simpler time. "Walk Like a Man" talks about the kind of abusive father McGraw himself had before he discovered he was the son of baseball legend Tug McGraw. The late pitcher is surely the subject of three songs here about death, loss, and carrying on, especially the title track, a big, uplifting affirmation of life. If it's also a little sappy, so be it--singing about the most painful thing he's ever endured, he gives it a dignified, understated reading (and only a week or so after his father's passing). It takes an artist to do that, and while McGraw may not be the greatest of warblers, nobody in country can touch him at conveying emotions too deep to express in words. Look for this to be the album of his career. ~Alanna Nash, Amazon.com
There's good reason for Tim McGraw's endurance at the top of contemporary country: he's a restless visionary who's worked hard to improve as an interpretive singer. In 2002, McGraw bucked the trend and convinced his label, and producers Byron Gallimore and Darran Smith, to let him use his road band in the studio. The rough and tumble intimacy of the set put it over the top and appealed to music fans outside his circle. On Live Like You Were Dying, McGraw ups the ante. Using the same production team and his Dancehall Doctors, McGraw cut a whopping 16 tracks and helped in the mixing of the record, as well as co-producing. The song selection runs the gamut. There's the blues-rock energy of the opener, "How Bad Do You Want It," where he evokes the ghost of the Mississippi Delta as well as the hard country-rock sounds of Marshall Tucker and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Then there's the shimmering Americana of "My Old Friend" that would not be out of place performed by Pierce Pettis, and the fantastic "Old Town New," by renegade songwriters Bruce Robison and Darrell Scott. The monster single from this record, "Live Like You Were Dying," by Craig Wiseman and Tim Nichols, is the very best kind of modern country song; the emotion in McGraw's delivery is honest, not saccharine. In anyone else's voice, a song like "Drugs or Jesus" would be just plain bad. The tune itself is solid and beautifully constructed, a perfect marriage of melody, hook, and direct, simple lyrics. But the temptation to overperform such a song is irresistible to most of the hit factory's mainstays. Not for McGraw though: his understatement underscores the lyric's seriousness. The tenderness in Rodney Crowell and James T. Slater's "Open Season on My Heart" is vulnerable in all the right ways. The moody poignancy of "Walk Like a Man," is a fine and haunting centerpiece for this fine album. "Kill Myself" has to be experienced - it's a miracle and a testament to McGraw's clout that this tune made it on to the record. "We Carry On" is a soulful anthem, gritty, true, and beautiful. It's a fitting close to McGraw's finest moment yet. The young hell-raiser has grown to be one of modern country's most compelling and multidimensional artists. ~Thom Jurek, allmusic.com
