Darryl Worley – “Tequila on Ice”

I really like it as well and agree with you on the instrumentation-the sound is incredibly warm. I thought his last cd, Here and Now, was great as well. Hopefully he will have some radio success this time around.

no!

Kelly: Do we begrudge you Playboy?

Women read Playgirl?

I was under the impression that Playgirl’s readership was 99.9% gay men.

Chris: You don’t have to be a man to appreciate gay men.

have i missed the discovery of another gender today, after all this tequila on ice?

I’m glad this comment thread has stayed on topic.

Actually, though, as a woman, if you get around the pictures, Playboy isn’t a half bad magazine.”

So, you read Play Boy for its articles?:)

Leeann: I read it for research. Believe it or not Playboy is the hardest (no pun intended) market for short (again, no pun intended) fiction in the US.

stormy,
no – but i must have temporarily forgotten the new global paradigm that if it’s not on youtube is probably hasn’t happened.

There are good articles in Playboy, and there are also naked women. Those are two things in life that I like.

When I was in 11th grade, my English teacher told us that Playboy paid fiction writers better than any other periodical. Not sure if that’s true or not.

I assumed the same thing from the title as well.

Jim, you don’t count “If Something Should Happen” as a hit? It got to #9 after “Awful, Beautiful Life”.

Stormy, you are right. In spite of the ridiculous portrayal of women with silicone and super-high heels, Playboy has very intelligent articles.

And yes, I really like the groove of this song and I hope it’s a hit.

The other “hits” you mentioned barely sputtered to their chart highs, and receive zero residual airplay. I don’t just look to chart position when determining what I consider a “hit.”

Jim,

I see your agruement but have to (somewhat) disagree with you. You may not deem something a “hit” based on recurrent airplay or residuals for singers but a Top 10 hit is a Top 10 hit. If a “Greatest Hits” package comes out (it will if he gets a few hits at his new label) that “non-hit” will be on it. Also, I’d argue that country radio doesn’t play much of anything by Darryl Worley these days so by your definition he has what, one or two “real” hits?

C’mon now.

I understand why you say that about that song. I’d argue that the song stalled there because it was the last single from his label deal and it was at the time his label and him weren’t seeing eye to eye (which he sang about on “Jumpin’ Off The Wagon” on his 903 Records album).

I think you could argue the “did it raise his prestige, did it lead to more career opportunities” arguement for almost all of the artists on the charts nowadays. A perfect example is Craig Morgan. He’s had quite a few Top 10 hits but really has nothing that’s all that memorable but maybe “What I Love About Sunday” and maybe “Almost Home” or (sadly) “Redneck Yacht Club.”

Chris, I just don’t think the public gives a damn about chart position anymore. What does “top ten” even mean?

It means that country radio played the song quite a bit…but who listens to country radio for more than fifteen minutes at a time? If a song peaks at #9, given the high proportion of recurrents in the format these days, there’s a high probability that any given listener is only going to be exposed to that #9 song a handful of times.

I mean, just look at the charts this week–there’s a 31% drop-off in the number of spins between #1 (”All I Wanna Do”) and #9 (”Waitin’ On A Woman”). Not to mention an audience loss of 10.0.

Radio used to be the primary way listeners were introduced to new music. But that’s changing rapidly, if it hasn’t already. And I don’t think you can judge if something was a “hit” or not based primarily on its relevance within a dwindling medium.

Stormy: “(Dammit, how could I have written 476 pages and not said anything?!)”

So basically, your novel is “15 Minutes of Shame”? ;-)

Jim: “But did it raise his prestige? Did it lead to more career opportunities? Did it drive sales?”

I see what you’re saying about chart position, but this even means that songs like “I Loved Her First,” “Brand New Girlfriend,” “Find Out Who Your Friends Are,” “Good Directions,” and other #1s from lesser artists in the last two years weren’t hits, as it didn’t raise the profiles of any of those artists either.

music charts are like stock market indices – a measurement tool. both value the underlying quantitatively and result in a ranking. in both worlds you have to do quite a few things right to get to the top. being a hit in one or the other is an obvious sign of success. do you know one artist, who wouldn’t like to have a #1 hit in his career? Even the dodgiest desertrat of a songwriter wouldn’t mind topping the billboard charts with one of his songs.

take a look at the upcoming olympics, all that’s going to matter to the competitors is #1, #2 and #3.

some things never change.

Stephen–

The small number of points I included above should not be construed as my conclusive opinion about what does or does not constitute a hit record. An artist can certainly have a hit record that does NONE of those things noted previously.

“Find Out Who Your Friends Are” certainly did raise T.L.’s prestige–you could say it briefly resurrected his career.

The other examples you give are undeniable hits: “Good Directions” penetrated the format–it had people all across the country singing about turnip greens. “Brand New Girlfriend” was memorable, and people are going to be playing “I Love Her First” at weddings for years.

Hits have to set themselves apart in some way, and I think all of those did that, to an extent. Obviously, none of them had the career impact that artists would have liked.

But “If Something Should Happen” made zero impact. In any regard.

I still think you forgot it.

Here’s a question Jim,

If you wrote a song and it became a Top 10 hit “just barely” the way that worley song did would you still not call it a Top 10 hit? I think if you’re being honest you would. I think that’s what Chris was getting at.

B. Jonathan,

That’s why some of the most memorable songs were never #1 hits (like “Independence Day” for Martina McBride) but are remembered. I had a successful songwriter tell me one day that a Top 20 song isn’t much different than a #1 song in terms of revenue for a songwriter and that some of their most favorite hits weren’t #1’s.

I never liked “If Something Should Happen”. I always thought it was manipulative.

Curious if Darryl still performs “Have You Forgotten” live in concert? And if so has he re-written the words, now that we know the truth about the yellowcake? That song was a number one hit, tho it did next to nothing here in Canada.

@ Matt B (10:46): That’s a good, and fair question. My short answer is yes–of course I would.

I might also say that my voice is as verdant as a country hillside and as fresh and invigorating as a sip of well water.

Both might be true–it’s all subjective. And if I implied that “If Something Should Happen” wasn’t a “hit” by any definition, then I made a mistake. Of course it was a radio hit. And in the eyes of those associated with it, I’m sure it’s a genuine hit.

I still disagree with Chris N’s pronunciation that “a hit is a hit.” I think that’s a gross oversimplification. If a hit’s a hit, does that mean that a #1 is the same as a #10 which is the same as a #40? And if not (because I think even Chris would agree to the answer there being ‘not’), where is the line drawn? And who gets to draw it?

It’s an arbitrary line. And you get to draw it. (And so do I.) We draw that line for our own purposes–a hit to a member of Worley’s fan club is not the same as a hit to one of his co-writers which is not the same as a hit to his label, and so on.

In hindsight, however, I shouldn’t have oversimplified my own statement into ‘he hasn’t had a hit since…” That’s an error in judgment on my part.

And I appreciate you all holding me to it. It makes me a better writer.

…And if I implied that “If Something Should Happen” wasn’t a “hit” by any definition, then I made a mistake…

I’m surprised that “Have You Forgotten?” still gets so much rotation. It just seems so dated now. (What the heck is yellow cake in this context?)

By the way, Jim, I caught the Carter’s Chord reference. And I lol’d.

I hesitate to comment here after the way Jim and I disagreed so much on Jessica Simpson’s last single, for fear of a bad review on one of my own songs, but I figured since I have a shot at Darryl’s next single, I’d take my chances.

I know ‘Tequila On Ice’ just came out but there’s talk already on what they want out during the holiday season and a song I wrote is the one they are talking about. Darryl cut a song of mine called ‘You Never Know’ that is on this project and we’re keeping our fingers crossed. (So be nice Jim) :)

I can’t play you Darryl’s record, but if you would like to hear our demo of it you can listen at http://www.shoalscreative.com/songpages/youneverknow.html

We wrote this song 2 days after finding out our original bass player in Shenandoah ,Ralph Ezell, had died. He was the inspiration for this song.

So we are pulling for this first single ‘Tequila On Ice’ to do well and are hopeful for the second single. Keep your fingers crossed with us and pray for a big hit! I could use it.

And again, hopefully Jim will be nice to us if it is indeed a single. :)

All the best guys and gals,

Mike

I’m not disappointed. I’m really tired of turn-it-up-loud songs.

So uhh, how ’bout that preview image for the “Tequila on Ice” video on CMT?