Kenny Chesney - “Better As A Memory”

Mike W, maybe you can explain to me what’s going on in the song and why exactly he’s better as a memory? I admitted that there was a lot to like, but it just doesn’t make any sense.

She’s better off without him because he has an obsessive tendency to constantly reel off random metaphors to describe himself.

I doubt that Blackbeard ever felt the need to continually remind people of “just who he was”. Also, Pirates have bad teeth, and the ones in Pittsburgh have horrible batting averages…(thanks, I’ll be here all week)

Thanks to that review, which I read months and months ago, I really do think of dementia everytime I hear “Dont Blink.”

I agree that “Demons” would be a good single from an artist of Kenny’s stature. That being said, This song, lyrical warts and all, is better than the last single and probably all of the singles released off of “Poets and Pirates.”

I’m glad that you staffers at The 9513 have the guts to call ‘em as you see ‘em and enough discernment to call them accurately as well. I tend to ignore most of the really big Top 20 artists on mainstream radio with Kenny Cheesehead being near the top of my blacklist (right behind Carrie Underwear and Taylor Twit). On the other hand I do have fun reading your withering reviews of the musical pap dispensed from such artists on a regular basis. I’d much rather read about Kenny’s music getting skewered for the shallow piffle it often is rather than listen to the dang stuff……..

PS - If anyone is offended by my catty nicknames for major country “stars”, tough beans. They’ll be making millions regardless of what I think about their music…..

ok, i’ve listened to this twice. i still have no opinion. the song doesn’t elicit one. it’s that…pointless. why bother?

Mike W. I see what you mean and agree to a great degree- but when you settle down life can be very interesting as Willie, Wayon, Loretta,Tammy and George proved - But I am very glad there are young men like you who want more mature music. As for Luke Bryan I think he is doing that good ole boy act because he is becoming famous from it. The sad fact is that unlike a lot of true artist- Bryan wants the quick fame and I think he is selling his talent for cheap which won’t help him in the long run. The woods are full of boy singers with a few hits for their time and a short history- Rhett Akins, Rick Trevino, James Bonmay, David Kersh, Buddy Jewell. Some have a comeback but rarely as the artist they might really be.

Kenny Chesney would surely be “Better As a Memory.”

And by the way, “Shift Work” is so cheezy and gimmicky it almost sounds like a joke or a parody song.

Sugarland is working on Album #3. They have a new single from it coming out soon.

Zach - it feels like it because it’s about true. He’s been pummeling the public with one forgettable single after another without letting us catch a breath for years now. And many times it’s hard to distinguish one from another.

When he plays a gig, I’m pretty sure he can’t possibly play all the singles he’s released. You’d need a detailed spreadsheet which could crash a computer to list them all.

But since so many of them sound the same, maybe it doesn’t matter which ones he plays.

chesneyism:

A disorder afflicting otherwise healthy people which perverts their
judgement and taste until they like the music of Kenny Chesney;
thereby believing he is actually talented and a “star”.

Aggressive treatment for the disorder is indicated: including forcing
the victims to listen to hours of recordings by quality male country
singers; then having them compare those recordings to that of Kenny
Chesney.

Some respond to treatment, but the current success rate of agressive
treatment is only about 25 percent. Sadly, the disorder is too
advanced in many patients; and they continue to live with the mild
dementia.

wow…so many of you guys are overly negative, and jealous of Kenny. Is he the best singer…no, the best songwriter…no, the best guitarist…no, but the fact of the matter is he is one hell of an entertainer, and he sings good songs (for the most part) that really get people goin. Granted, “Shiftwork” was one of the worst songs in recent memory (right up there with “Firecracker” and “Just Got Started Lovin You”), but “Dont Blink” was a great song, and anyone who hates it is jealous and probably suffers from dementia. Plus, Brady, you just hate everything mainstream…you’re like a little emo kid, who only likes music he thinks no one else listens to or likes!!!

I’m pretty sure I’m not “just a jealous nerd who can’t get a woman.” I simply don’t like Kenny Chesney’s music or attitude much. Then again, I know that I can get a little disgruntled when people attack my favorite artists too, though I can avoid the name calling pretty well.:) However, like you say, Kenny has many fans, so he doesn’t need those of us who aren’t his fans on his side. So, it works out for everybody. We don’t have to be Kenny Chesney fans and he doesn’t actually need us to be

Everyone here who thinks this song is bad for some reason, what the hell are you thinking? What i there not to understand? Not to follow? Can any of you actually put an educated thought together whe it comes to a song? Just wondering.

Ok all you stupid Kenny lovers… can one of you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE explain to me what the hell he means by “my only friends are pirates?” WHAT A FREAK!!! Kenny used to be good until he started writing every freaking song about the beach this the beach that so the only way I figure his friends are pirates are b/c “pirates of the carribean” and he is freakin obsessed with the carribean. Just someone please tell what the crap that pirate line means!!!!!

“my only friends are pirates”…..the only thing i can come up with is what the saying goes along with…..what do pirates chase?….booty……and i can totally understand this song because i have dated a guy who because of his past was afraid to get serious and the more serious i got about him the more he told me i should run…..so basically he is telling the girl she is better off without him because he isn’t long term relationship material…..atleast that’s how i see it….and i also think that he is basically telling her he isn’t good for much other than a booty call, back to the pirate reference…….but i do love this song because i can relate

If he didn’t sing the pirate line with such ferocious honesty, it wouldn’t be so funny. I love how all those that defend this song find a serious and profound message buried within the meanderings. I know when something’s over my head and when something’s on the bottom of my boot. This… is on the bottom of my boot.

Here’s what Chesney had to say about the song, “Someone had left it for me on my bed,” Chesney says with a laugh. “And a note that said it was something to listen to and wind down after the momentum of kicking off the Flip Flop Summer Tour was gone and the adrenalin wasn’t… it wasn’t supposed to be ‘a pitch,” the note said it was a lullalbye. As the person was someone whose taste I respect, I did […] I called the person who’d left it and said, ‘That’s not just a good song, that’s a great song. I’m cutting it Tuesday.”

He also called it “the most honest song I’ve ever cut.“

I agree with Mike about the songwriter pitching the song. Sonwriters dont just give songs to people for lullabyes!!! and i would be highly disappointed if kenny actually believed the guy.

I also wanted to adress the “pirate” line. while I agree, it was senseless to out that line in the song, I think he ment that he friends are constantly moving on to the next place or the next journey in life, just like pirates never stay in one place.

PS- If you dont like this song, fine, but this is not a bash-kenny website. And if you dont like mainstream country radio, dont listen and dont review the songs, and leave the reviews to us folks who do like mainstream country.

kenny chesney is trying to become the next jimmy buffett but thankfully parrotheads are smart enough to recognize an east tennessee redneck when they hear one…how how how did this guy get to the level he is at???????

My only friends are Pirates refers to him being on the road all the time, and not staying in one place, and that can be said for plenty of his friends in the buisness. If there is any songwriters on here you would know the song is actually brilianlty written. But the Overall beach sceen for his albums is getting old

David writes, “For all those that are putting Kenny (or any other artist) down, I don’t see your name on the ticket stubs or selling any albums. To sit and “review” this song and the word pirates is a bit much.”

This is a great point, and I would extend it to other areas of life. For instance, since Consumer Reports magazine does not make or sell cars, I think its stupid to pay attention to them if they claim a particular car is unsafe. Because as David writes, “Fact is, Kenny is doing it and your not and that just plain pisses you off,” the same applies to Consumer Reports. Their editors are not making cars, they don’t know how to make cars, they sure could never sell as many cars as GM, and it “just plain pisses them off” so they take it out on car makers. Next time I hear from some bitter car reviewer that a car tends to roll over, i’ll just ignore it safe in the knowledge that the reviewer is just a jealous crank.

David: He works his ass off on stage and puts on a hell of a show (with a broken foot also)…

His foot is actually more bruised than broken.

Chris and fellow commenting commenters: I am glad that we are all qulaified to comment by commenting. If we just sat at our computers and didnt comment, well, we wouldnt be qulaified to comment…..I think….I know that we all provide one hell of a good read with our comments, in fact, I currently have a “female dog” of a hang-nail right now, but I want to give the non-commenting readers all they can handle, so I suck it up and type away, cuz I’m bad-a** like that….

I like the way that argument works. Let me try one: I just have to say that if you knew how to comprehend language or required songs to make sense, then you wouldn’t understand or like this song. I was very unimpressed.

I was merely pointing out your lack of a substantial argument while attempting to support the song by being dismissive of differing opinions. Tell us why the song is good from a writing, poetry, and musical (country music in particular) perspective instead of arrogantly dismissing those who disagree as ignorant.

Maria,

Poetry is about expressing yourself, but it still needs to be coherent. I agree that the language in this song sounds very poetic, but sounding poetic and being poetic are too very different things. This is not a deep song.

I enjoy that the lyric uses some original turns of phrase, and it’s not a bad melody, but it’s not a great song, or really even a good one. It’s a forced hook wrapped in nonsense. Interesting nonsense, but still nonsense. Just another opinion.

I find it a bit offensive that you’d classify everyone who does not share your reverence for the song as people who don’t “know anything about writing and poetry.” I’m guessing a lot of folks here know quite a bit about writing and poetry.

Maria, country music, and I suppose all songs, can be considered poetry, but not all poetry can be considered country music. So, even though something may make good poetry, that doesn’t make it a good country music lyric; just try turning a haiku into a country song. This is a country music website and that’s the perspective that we review a song from, so while someone may be able to glean meaning from it in a poetic sense, it just doesn’t make a good country song. If you think otherwise, feel free to present an argument supporting your opinion.

The song isn’t suppose to make perfect sense to everyone. Its obviously about personal experiences, and its ment to leave you wondering, what did he mean by that, but still in the back of your mind feel the lyircs and apply them to your own life and experiences. When he sings “my only friends are pirates”, I am guessing he is singing about his friends who are men of the sea, and the women he is singing about probably had a problem with them, or him being a beach bum? Just my guess. If every song made perfect sense, it would be a book not a song.

I think we all understand the general gist of the song, but certain lines don’t lend anything to the story. Let me expand on the review a little.

I move on like a sinner’s prayer
Lettin’ go like a levee breaks
Walk away as if I don’t care
Learn to shoulder my mistakes
I’m built to fade like your favorite song
Get reckless when there’s no need

So the first three lines establish that he’s moving on from something. The third line calls into question who exactly he’s trying to convince that he doesn’t care, himself or the woman. Why isn’t the line “Walk away because I don’t care?” As it’s worded now, it’s either just trying to smooth over his being an asshole, or he might really care, but if he really cared, why would he leave?

A few things could be going on with the fourth line. If it’s the beginning of a relationship, then it wouldn’t necessarily be a mistake to leave it, so we’re either into a semi-serious relationship or he considers it to be a mistake to have gotten involved in the first place. The again, he could be just describing himself without the line contributing to the “Just Who I Am” story rather than the “Better As A Memory” story.

The fifth line is a lame excuse so that he doesn’t have to own up to his actions and contradicts the previous line about shouldering his mistakes. The sixth line goes back to the “Who I Am” story and makes no sense in the “Memory” story.

Laugh as your stories ramble on
Break my heart, but it won’t bleed
My only friends are pirates
That’s just who I am
But I’m better as a memory than as your man

The first line here indicates that the relationship isn’t completely new and the second line raises all sorts of questions and was probably just included because it sounds cool. The pirate line is out of left field, but we’ll consider it part of the “Who I Am” storyline. In the next two lines he reveals the two separate stories being told. We can make a conclusion that the relationship is more complicated than just having a chat or two over coffee and him telling her that he doesn’t do relationships, otherwise, she wouldn’t have any reason to keep him as a memory. And this is all just the first verse.

So basically, the guy is breaking up with a girl and giving her the old “It’s not you, it’s me,” but if you dig a little deeper and consider that he’s “honest to a fault,” he knew he was going to leave her all along and just used her as a temporary fling. When things start getting more serious, he craps his pants and gives her the runaround in order to feel better about being an asshole.

Sure there’s a general idea that’s trying to be conveyed here, which I mentioned in the review, but the whole thing just doesn’t fit together. It’s not about reading between the lines, it’s about dropping a few lines and twisting interpretations to make it mean what you think it means. Kenny sounds great, but it doesn’t make a good song.

just try turning a haiku into a country song.

Heck, I thought that is what the song “Shiftwork” is. The first time he sings the chorus, he gives the words shift work five syllables. The next time it’s seven and the third is five again. I thought that was his plan. He doesn’t do that with his pirate songs because pirates and eye patch come to a total of four syllables. Including parrot puts him over the limit.

I can’t turn a haiku into a country song, but I think I can turn country songs into haiku.

“The only reason
He stopped loving her today
Is that he is dead”

Ha, Chris!

So I stumbled stumbled across this review. Song critics really make me laugh out loud. I’m unsure if you have ever written a song or ever had one recorded but I have never purchased or changed my mind about purchasing a record based on a desk’s jockeys rewiew. This song makes perfect sence to me.

I think a lot of women really like this song because it evokes the Fabio factor. It’s the swashbuckling loner from the harlequin romance who breezes into town and steals the cattle rancher’s only daughter.

I get the romantic pull of this song, but it’s not realistic. I know a lot of guys, but I’ve never met anybody like the character in this song. I know women who think they know this guy, but it’s more of a coping mechanism than a reality. If a man’s getting everything he needs from a woman, but can’t be faithful- he’s a jerk- NOT A HERO. Or am I missing something (which is likely).

Carrie,

But isn’t that still, in essence, a horrible thing to say to someone? Isn’t any man that would choose career over true love is a moron? I think people get the song, but question the sincerity of it. It’s like a long way of saying, wink…wink… “it’s not you, it’s me.”

Ok let me 1st say that I am a huge Chesney fan! This is my favorite song he sings. It makes better sense if you know the singer. Chesney is a single hard working guy that sacrifices a lot for his career even relationships. Its a very wordy song - but simply brillantly written and sang! Two thumbs up here! Its just basically compares how like things in nature and in life he too stops before things get too far. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone and they may not understand it then, but one day when they do find that special someone than they will realize that he was better as a memory than as thier man. Its an internal struggle for him too in wanting to pursue a realtionship but then again not being ready. Don’t you know that the pirate line is all about Kenny. Poets and pirates tour - he’s a boater. If your a real informed fan than you know.

This song makes plenty of sense if anyone has ever taken a compostion class in high school or college. “My only friends our pirates” thats simple to understand hes saying hes a drifter hes never around for her. Pirates were drifters at one time and never stayed in one place very long. As in the song he also talks about blowing through like a storm “I never stay but then again I might” once again explaing that he is never around more of a gypsy always on the go. She’s better with out him “Better as a memory than as your man.” Scooter is a very well respected song writer who clearly got the message across to people that had some knowlege of poetry. Pick up some Walt Whitman or other american poets and maybe you will understand the concept and language used in this song.

Steve,

I think most of us pretty much get what the song is trying to get across. My biggest problem with it isn’t the language (thought this is NOT Walt Whitman). My problem is that the singer is romanticizing a character flaw and trying to justify being a jerk. At a language level, it’s pretty, but mostly meaningless.

“cause good-bye’s are like a roulette wheel
you never know where they’re gonna land
first you’re spinning, then you’re standing still
left holding a losin’ hand”

This all makes okay sense from an aerial view, but get a little closer and it makes absolutely no sense. If I’m being picky- goodbyes would be like a roulette ball- and then why would the person be spinning- and why are they holding a “losing hand?” What kind of crazy roulette game has cards?

If the similes made sense, this would be a much better song- but it’s all just a bunch of lazy comparisons that are hit and miss.

Steve, since you are wondering if anyone has anything better to do, why are you bothering to comment? If you do not like breaking a song down and looking at its flaws or possibly the strengths and then discussing them, why bother coming on here at all? You are more than welcome to go over to Kenny’s Fan Forum and gush over how awesome it is to be a pirate and live on the beach and how he is “real country for real people” or whatever it is that you fanboys like to say to eachother on those insipid message boards…

And further… to beat a dead horse… if this song is poetry, then it can only be fully appreciated when deconstructed and analyzed.

i love your song it is the BEST !