Trisha Yearwood - “This is Me You’re Talking To”
To prepare for this review, I re-listened to most of Trisha Yearwood’s single releases in an ultimately futile attempt to discover a better vocal performance. Some, such as “I Don’t Paint Myself into Corners” and “The Song Remembers When,” come close, but I believe that “This is Me You’re Talking To” represents Trisha Yearwood’s best vocal performance on a single recording to date. As one would expect from the best vocalist of her generation, the result is absolutely breathtaking.
Performance aside, lyrically, “This is Me You’re Talking To” might be the perfect country song. It’s a love song against the backdrop of love lost and holds out the promise of hope amidst heartache. At the root of the song is heartbreaking familiarity, two lovers that know each other so well that it makes falling out of love so much more difficult. It’s the same theme that powers another breathtaking country song, Dwight Yoakam’s “The Back of Your Hand.”
I can’t say that I like the production very much: the string backing flirts with melodrama and I’d like to hear more of the understated steel guitar and less piano. Thus, I stop short of calling “This is Me Your Talking To” Trisha’s best single release. Nonetheless, it’s bound to be remembered as one of the best singles of the year and I cannot think of a better song to set the tone for country radio in 2008.
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Dwight Yoakam // radio // Single Review // steel guitar // Trisha Yearwood
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January 4, 2008 at 11:31 am Permalink
The thing that I love the most about this song, is that when I first heard it was that I wondered if it was a older song of hers that I had not heard before…which makes me love it even more, because it sounds so classic.
January 4, 2008 at 2:13 pm Permalink
I’ll assume that this is going to be her next single, and I’ve gotta say, this will be, by far, my favorite single out of nashville in a few years. I really love this song. I’m inclined to agree with you on the arrangement, “flirts with melodrama” is a good way to put it, but nevertheless, the song has a strong enough story, and Trisha’s vocals are so good, that it more than makes up for that weakness. Awesome song, great review.
January 4, 2008 at 3:00 pm Permalink
I love this song and her latest cd! I urge EVERYONE to go out and buy “Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love” from Trisha. You won’t be disappointed!
January 5, 2008 at 5:27 pm Permalink
A pure vocalist like Trisha and two guitars, awesome.
January 5, 2008 at 10:10 pm Permalink
Hey Matt,
As a courtesy to all of us songwriters out there could you list the songwriters in your reviews? If it is truly a lyrically perfect country song shouldn’t the writer at least be mentioned? Thanks
January 6, 2008 at 12:42 am Permalink
Yes, the songwriters should be mentioned and the writers of this particular gem are Karyn Rochelle and Tommy Lee James. However, I won’t apologize for failing to name the songwriters in all of my reviews. It’s remarkable how difficult it can be to find the writers of many songs when most of the music I listen to no longer comes on a CD with liner notes. None of the digital music stores I use supply any information about songwriters and most of the countless lyrics databases apparently don’t think that it’s important to include the lyrics’ authors. If a song isn’t easily located in the ASCAP or BMI catalogs, then you just have to hope to get lucky. It’s a shame, but The 9513 is far from the primary offender.
January 6, 2008 at 9:47 am Permalink
All-Music Guide usually provides songwriter info. and I can’t think of a commercial CD that doesn’t list writers and publisher info., especially in Country music, where the NSAI has championed listring the songwriters in the label copy for decades.
January 9, 2008 at 4:41 pm Permalink
Amazing performance, agreeing with Lanibug this actually reminds me of her older stuff. One of the best female singers of our time. Beautifully simple yet touching song… I guess I’ll be getting that CD now.
February 12, 2008 at 12:11 pm Permalink
I agree that this is just short of one of her best singles out there based on the production. Not sure where Garth Fundis was going with it. But lyrically it is genius and I love the message of the song and anyone ever in a relationship can relate to it. And of course Trisha even after nearly 17 years since “Shes In love with the boy” she is vocally one of the best out there.
February 22, 2008 at 11:22 pm Permalink
It’s a very, very good song, yes, but it shouldn’t have been released at this point. One of her best up-tempo songs — and the lead-off track to a brand new album on a new label — busts at #20 on the charts and they follow up with this slow four-minute-plus track that, in this context, can be best described as anti-radio?
I’ve been listening to this CD for the past few days and, for the sake of a hit song, I think they should have released “They Call It Falling For a Reason,” then followed that with “Nothin’ ‘Bout Memphis” (an absolutely beautiful song; I love the horns), then maybe come back for “This is Me You’re Talking To.”
The fact that “Heaven, Heartache…” didn’t make the Top 10 proves either (a) Trisha will ALWAYS only be a critical darling and never land another string of actual hit songs again, or (b) Garth did it to her again (remember how radio was made to choose between the two back during “Where Your Road Leads”? Garth and Trisha, now that I think of it, tend to remind me of Bill and Hillary: his efforts to maintain his legacy will always outrank her current ambition.)
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