Lee Ann Womack - “Last Call”
Songwriters: Erin Enderlin and Shane McAnally
Lee Ann Womack’s latest single, “Last Call,” about the conflict a woman goes through when ending an unfulfilling relationship is a good song, although it does suffer from a few problems. The production of the verses give the song a haunting feeling that sets it up for an internal conflict, but the switch up and the cadence in the chorus changes the mood of the song altogether.
Indeed, the internal conflict isn’t as strong as in another of Womack’s songs, “I May Hate Myself In The Morning,” nor are the resulting consequences as potentially dire, which doesn’t allow the listener to become as emotionally invested in her choice. Where emotions win in the spur-of-the-moment choice in “I May Hate Myself,” logic wins out in “Last Call” and the decision to not answer the phone seems to have been made sometime in the past, so the internal struggle isn’t as strong. “Last Call” could indeed be a follow-up to the same relationship presented in “I May Hate Myself In The Morning.”
Another problem arises with the three different meanings of the title phrase, “last call,” throughout the song. It is clever, but also feels forced in the second instance and detracts from the song.
Although the lyric doesn’t accentuate the emotional conflict, Womack’s vocal drips with indecision as she delivers a splendid performance; she understands that her goal is to tell a story through the song and convey emotion that may or may not be present in the lyric rather than to just sing at us. It’s not her strongest song, but it’s well written with a good performance, and despite the dull internal conflict, it’s rife with emotional depth.
Listen: Lee Ann Womack - “Last Call”
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18 Comments
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June 18, 2008 at 11:53 am Permalink
Good review Brady. I really loved “I may hate myself in the morning” and this one does miss that mark a tad, but is still a good cut, none the less. I think that both songs seem to address certain specifc moments, versus general themes of “love” or “life”, also help make these songs work.
June 18, 2008 at 1:17 pm Permalink
So glad to see Lee Ann back on the radio! It’s nice to hear some traditional sounding country go head to head (no pun intended) with Rascal Flatts’ Bob That Head!
June 18, 2008 at 3:36 pm Permalink
My thoughts exactly, Kim.
June 18, 2008 at 3:49 pm Permalink
I’ll go way out on a limb here (yeah, right) and predict Top 40 country radio will ignore this fine song. Its too traditional sounding for a female artist and Lee Ann hasn’t been in mainstream radio’s “Insiders Club” for many a moon. In a mainstream country environment dominated by Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood (and now Jessica Simpson), this type of thoughtful and authentic country music is about as welcome as Bobby Bible at a gay rights parade….
PS - If a song as fine as Lee Ann’s “The Wrong Girl” gets ignored by airhead Top 40 country radio, what chances does this song have?
June 18, 2008 at 4:14 pm Permalink
Yeah Rick I am scared for this song’s future too but I sure would love to see it be a hit. I don’t see why we can’t have both this kind of song and Jessica Simpson on the radio at the same time. Makes for more variety. Maybe radio has been anxiously awaiting new music from Lee Ann and will jump on this. A girl can dream, right? :>)
June 18, 2008 at 4:59 pm Permalink
Kim, check out this fine article by Tim DuBois about the XM-Sirius merger where he relates it to the current state of Top 40 terrestial country radio:
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806150427
My favorite line which I think relates directly to why this new single from Lee Ann will be ignored:
“In an era of SHRINKING RADIO PLAYLISTS, it’s harder and harder for new artists and smaller labels to get played on AM and FM radio, and there is FAR LESS AIRPLAY for the many different genres of country music, whether outlaw, Americana, bluegrass or TRADITIONAL. This makes satellite radio, with its remarkable programming diversity, vitally important for country music; it creates countless opportunities for Nashville musicians to reach fans from coast to coast.”
Sounds like Tim also thinks Top 40 country radio really sucks these days and is getting worse….
June 18, 2008 at 6:49 pm Permalink
Interesting–thanks for the link. I don’t have Sirius or XM, but sounds like I need to. That is another reason I like myspace–you can always go and sample at least 4 songs from people you might never have heard of. I love the way that website is helping introduce people to new artists.
June 18, 2008 at 7:06 pm Permalink
“In an era of SHRINKING RADIO PLAYLISTS, it’s harder and harder for new artists and smaller labels to get played on AM and FM radio,..”
I’ve never quite understood why radio playlists keep shrinking. Is it because songs run longer than they did years ago? Or because there are more advertisements on radio than there used to be?
June 18, 2008 at 7:28 pm Permalink
I don’t know why Billboard/R&R don’t count Sirius/XM stations in their charts. They do that for AC and a lot of the other formats … might lead to variety that mainstream radio doesn’t want?
June 18, 2008 at 10:01 pm Permalink
I really like it a lot, though the “listening to a country song” line just seems so cliche to me, but I’m willing to look over it. Great vocals and I like the idea of the song. Cannot wait for her next album and I’m sure she can outdo the excellence of “There’s More Where That Came From”.
June 19, 2008 at 7:34 am Permalink
I feel like I’ve been asking everyone “Where’s Lee Ann?” for the past year or so. Glad to see that she’s back! I’m liking this new one.
June 19, 2008 at 1:25 pm Permalink
Really hope this gets somewhere.
June 20, 2008 at 11:16 am Permalink
From someone who’s been in the same sitituation, this song perfect hits every feeling i went through in the months I was dependent on that phone ringing at 2 AM. Lee Ann quite an amazing singer, both vocally and in her ability to choose songs that are not the typical “fluff” flying around on contemporary “country” radio. While it may never get the radio play it is worthy of, this song has touched me deeply and I am thrilled it was released.
June 20, 2008 at 9:39 pm Permalink
This isn’t her best song, but I like it. She’s been strangely silent for a while now and I’ve been wondering when she’d be back with something new. It’s good to hear from her again.
June 23, 2008 at 3:36 am Permalink
Since I think you all would be interested…I also posted this on Kevin’s site, I just found a audio link for one of Lee Ann’s new songs called “Hide & Go Cheat” on Dale Dodson’s myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/daledodson .
It’s an awesome slow traditional country song with a slight Nashville sound. Classic country at its best :D . Kinda reminds me of “Am I the Only Think You’ve Done Wrong?” from her first album. I’m not sure if it will be on the new album though, but it was supposed to be when the album was supposed to come out last year.
June 23, 2008 at 6:08 pm Permalink
So thats what a real country song sounds like…i had forgotten. It’s great to hear new music from Lee Ann, shes one of the truest, best female country singers left out there. I really like here voice and song choices usually.
The problem is Bob that head will be top 10 and i might hear this song 3 times. STUPID RADIO!!!!
June 25, 2008 at 7:16 pm Permalink
I’ll be buying this song to hear more than 3 times.
July 30, 2008 at 7:58 pm Permalink
Shane McAnally. Any relation to Mac? I know Shane had an album for Curb in 1999, back before Curb put in that silly rule that your lead-off single has to go Top 20 before the album comes out (this very rule zinged Amy Dalley seven times before she finally quit).
I’m still not sold on Womack, whether she go solid country (this song), pop (the cavernous, vocally-detached “I Hope You Dance”), or in between (all those songs before “IHYD” that, somehow, fell totally off my radar until last year). But I like it enough to hope it gets her career back on track.
P.S. Anyone know why she switched to Mercury for “Finding My Way Back Home”? Switching from MCA to Mercury, then back again, seems like staying at a Quality Inn because you didn’t like the Sleep Inn.
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