Friends In Low Places - Garth Brooks

Artist: Garth Brooks
Song: Friends In Low Places
Year: 1990
Album: No Fences

I make no apologies for liking this song. It's fun and easy to sing with a group. I hear it at almost every karaoke function that I attend. I hear it at every wedding, which is why it will not be heard at mine. I don't hear Garth Brooks apologizing either.

I started hearing this in the early nineties. I was farthest away from country music at that point in my life, which is why it doesn't enter too much into my daily listening habits. I was into rock, blues, comedy and the occasional classic country back then. I hated the direction that country music was turning. It was beginning to sound like pop music with a twang. Something that hasn't changed.

I like it when the country artist of today can record a song in the vein of yesterday's classics. Something that tells a story and doesn't sound like it was produced in a studio. Garth Brooks songs are usually in the style of the masters, especially his early songs. "Friends In Low Places" is from his second album.

Of course, Garth Brooks ushered in all that is wrong with country music today. The grit is gone, replaced by spray on mud for the suburban soccer mom's SUV. The gloss is there, like overpolished silver. It just isn't the same music. Garth Brooks is one of the last performers to embrace the old style. He is also one of the first to embrace the newer style. It's a contradiction that boggles my mind sometimes.

Lyrics:
Blame it all on my roots, I showed up in boots
And ruined your black tie affair.
Last one to know, last one to show
I was the last one you thought you'd see there
And I saw the surprise, and the fear in his eyes
When I took his glass of champagne
And I toasted you, said "Honey we may be through,
But you'll never hear me complain...

'Cause I've got friends in low places
Where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases
My blues away, and I'll be OK.
And I'm not big on social graces
Think I'll slip on down to the oasis
So I've got friends in low places!

Well, I guess I was wrong,
I just don't belong
But then, I've been there before
Everything's alright, I'll just say goodnight
and I'll show myself to the door
Hey, I didn't mean to cause a big scene
Just give me an hour and then,
Well I'll be as high as that ivory tower
that you're living in

'Cause I've got friends in low places
Where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases
My blues away, and I'll be OK.
And I'm not big on social graces
Think I'll slip on down to the oasis
So I've got friends in low places!