Daryle Singletary – “Love You With the Lights On”
Songwriters: Chris DuBois and David Cory Lee.
Listen up, girls: You should Leave the Light On so that Your Man can Love You With the Lights On after Gettin’ You Home and convincing you to Come A Little Closer. When you think he’s finally done, you’ll discover that he actually Just Got Started Lovin’ You. All in all, it sounds like a pretty exhausting night, so you might want to grab a cup of joe beforehand.
Kidding aside, we’ve all heard this before. Lights on or off, eyes open or shut, it’s all the same: the standard-issue country hunk song. “Love You With the Lights On” is perfectly radio-friendly, but so are all the other songs in the same vein. There isn’t really much reason to prefer this one.
Which puts Singletary right back in an old familiar position: Even in his ’90s heyday, he often seemed interchangeable with other hat acts like Rhett Akins and (Officer) Jeff Carson. Like those other performers, he’s now in the odd position of having been a peripheral hanger-on longer than he was ever an actual chart presence. 2009 could be an important year for him, marking (as it hopefully will) the release of his first album of original material in over a decade.
As the lead single from that long-awaited album, this is Singletary’s chance to remind the country audience of what they’ve been missing–and at the ripe old age of 37, with his big hits 13 years past, one wonders how many more chances he’ll be afforded. At this point, he could really use a solid home run. Sadly, this isn’t it. Although he rises to the challenge vocally, a great vocal can only help a boring song so much.
Given that his two finest releases to date were both classic country cover albums, it’s disappointing to see Singletary falling back on proven pop-country hitmakers DuBois and Lee instead of seeking out more substantial fare from the pens of songwriters with a real knack for crafting modern country classics. Writers like Jim Lauderdale and Bruce Robison could provide Singletary the quality of material that his voice demands; anything less and it feels like he’s selling himself short.
Let’s hope this isn’t the best the new album has to offer.
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15 Comments
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March 6, 2009 at 2:56 pm
“Daryle Singletart” may be the greatest Freudian slip in the history of blogging, if not in the history of country music.
March 6, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Didn’t he cover Conway Twitty’s “I’d Love To Lay You Down” recently?
On the simple ground of comparing the vocal and lyrical quality of these two tracks, where the former is rich in imagery, this has “Thumbs Down” written all over it.
March 6, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I bought Daryle’s first album back in the 90′s when “I Let Her Lie” had a good run. I also enjoyed both of his covers albums and thought he did a good job of picking the songs for those albums as far as mixing in megahits with slightly lesser known, but still outstanding, classic country songs.
I don’t know if this song is Daryle caving to the pressure of today’s radio landscape to try and regain relevance or if he actually likes the song and thinks it’s a hit.
I like the guy’s voice and hope he gets a better song than this to show his abilities. I don’t want him to go down as simply the world’s best classic country karaoke singer.
Thanks for the review, CM, I enjoy your stuff here and at Country California.
March 6, 2009 at 3:33 pm
It’s an ok song, but I think a great vocal can help an ok song a whole lot – the history of country music is littered with examples of that – and he’s a great singer. If the point is to catch on at country radio, I hope it works.
March 6, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Count me as another fan of Daryle’s singing. A stoing song would probably help a lot in getting enough people to notice again, though, seems to me.
March 6, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Daryle is one of my favorite artists to hear perform on the Opry and I’m hoping he becomes a regular on the new Thursday night “Classic Country” Opry show. The Opry audiences always love the authentic country songs he sings and his traditional style.
As for this single, I don’t think it will get Daryle back in the Top 40 game. Only a killer song would stand any sort of chance and this number just doesn’t qualify. Dang….
March 6, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Haven’t you heard–They come to town when the war is over/Dirty boots in the middle of the night/crusing the bars, hittin on the soliders/boys give it up without a fight/They say “boy, how ’bout your place/I know you really want to take me home/drop the bags off on the bedroom floor/they make love with the lights on?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNWjprGWHlI
March 7, 2009 at 10:53 am
It’s not an unpleasant song (and it’s better than a lot of current radio hits imo), but I agree there’s nothing at all memorable about it. I do really like Daryle’s voice, but to be honest I think his chartc days are behind him. I’m still looking forward to his new album.
March 20, 2009 at 1:36 am
Fuck You All This Is Daryle’s Best Song Yet Ya’ll Don’t Know True Country When You Hear It It Should Be A #1 Hit Not Stupid Carrie “No Talent” Underwood Kenny “The Fake Homo” Chesney Taylor Hotty But Can’t Sing Swift And All Other Fake Pop Stars “Who Clam To Be COUNTRY” NOT EVEN CLOSE
March 20, 2009 at 2:40 am
Ugh; I hate people who, For Some Reason Enjoy Capitalizing Every Single Word Like This ‘Cause They Think They’re Smart
Plus its just a review, so big deal xD
March 23, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Not sure if it will be on the new cd but on his official website there is one killer song “She looked good in black” Almost up there with “He Stopped Loving Her Today”
April 25, 2009 at 2:43 pm
i like the song and love alot of his older work.
May 13, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I love this song….
June 24, 2009 at 11:05 am
He can love me with the lights on!
August 11, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I LOVE THIS SONG..AND ITS PURE COUNTRY THE WAY IT SHOULD BE….
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