GF's top twenty country songs of 2012

[gilligan fanatic]

• So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore – Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson keeps making great music, but he is charting less and less every year. Happy to see it nominated for a Grammy, but it is a shame it wasn’t on the radio any longer than it was. It only peaked at #25. Thirty Miles West is also one of my favorite albums of the year.

“If you need me to make you cry,
I don't want to but i'll try,
So you don't have to love me anymore”

• El Cerrito Place – Kenny Chesney

Last year he released You and Tequila which he did with Grace Potter and I was so excited when I saw they were doing another song together. They really need to do a whole album together. On the extended version of Grace Potters new album Kenny Chesney sings background vocals on Stars and that is great too.

“Did you hear the ocean singing, baby did you sing along
While you danced out in the water to some ol' forgotten song,
Were you even here at all?”

• Ours – Taylor Swift

The was released as a single last year but peaked this year. I bought the bonus track version of Speak Now in 2010 so I have listened to this song for a good two years now and it just don’t get old.

“Don't you worry your pretty little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
And life makes love look hard
The stakes are high, the water's rough
But this love is ours”

• Springsteen – Eric Church

Read a review of the song before I had heard it and they called it a sing a long song and that is dead on. I am not really a big Eric Church fan but this is so easy to sing a long with. I wish they added another verse because I want to keep singing every time I hear it

“Funny how a melody sounds like a memory
Like a soundtrack to a July Saturday night
Springsteen”

• Blown Away – Carrie Underwood

First time I heard Blown Away I loved it. The music video is awesome too. Happy to see Carrie Underwood keep putting out good stuff. I really didn’t like the singles on Play On too much, Blown Away the album is a lot better and the single is outstanding.

“Shatter every window till it's all blown away,
Every brick, every board, every slamming door flown away
Till there's nothing left standing,
Nothing left to yesterday
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away,
Blown away”

• Neon – Chris Young

I really like Chris Young and I couldn’t believe this song didn’t break the top twenty especially after he had like 5 #1 hits in a row before this. I love the song, but Neon really isn’t a color, there can be neon signs that are all sorts of colors, but that is alright, still a great song none the less.

“Neon, the light they always leave on
Put a double on your troubles
The light at this end of the tunnel is Neon”

• I Just Come Here for the Music – Don Williams

I am so glad Don Williams decided to put out another album this year, I believe he hadn’t released one since 2004 and it is terrific. Alison Krauss sings backup vocals and it is a nice listen. Another great song on his new album that I loved was Better Than Today.

“I just come here for the music, I get lost here in the sound
I ain't lookin' for nobody, but could I buy you one more round
Don't that fiddle play so lonesome, don't that singer play so good
I just come here for the music, how 'bout you?”

• A Woman Like You – Lee Brice

Lee Brice is on a roll this year. I knew this would be a hit first time I heard it.

“I'd take a gold band on my hand
Over being a single man
'Cause honestly I don't know what I'd do
If I'd never met a woman like you"”

• Thank God She Left The Whiskey – Chris Cagle

Chris Cagle had a good year after not having a hit for several. Got My Country on was a top twenty hit and Let There Be Cowgirls is moving up the chart, but this is my favorite song from “Back in the Saddle”

“Pack it up and the bottle just might be strong enough
To make me believe that there’s a chance
She might miss me.
Thank God she left the whiskey.”

• Better Dig Two – Band Perry

Easily one of my favorite new artists, I played the heck out of there debut album. Was so happy to hear new material and I hope there next album is full of tracks as good as this single. Kind of a creepy tune, I like it.

“"Here lies the girl whose only crutch
Was loving one man just a little too much"
If you go before I do
I'm gonna tell the gravedigger that he better dig two”

• Don’t Miss Your Life – Phil Vassar

Phil Vassar hasn’t had a big hit in several years but this got pretty good radio play earlier in the year. Phil Vassar is so great at telling a story even if it is one that has been told before.

“The moment's gone now it's too late
Fame and fortune come with a heavy price
Son, don't miss your life.”

• Begin Again – Taylor Swift

I really didn’t like We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together so when this was chosen as the next single I was relieved, I wish she would do more songs like this.


“And you throw your head back laughing like a little kid
I think it's strange that you think I'm funny cause he never did
I've been spending the last eight months
Thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end
But on a Wednesday in a cafe, I watched it begin again”

• Wanted – Hunter Hayes

I heard a lot about how great Hunter Hayes is when Storm Warning, his first single, came out and I was like “What’s the big deal”, but this single is really sweet. I also like his new single “Somebody’s Heartbreak”. I am sure he has a big future.

“As good as you make me feel
I wanna make you feel better
Better than your fairy tales
Better than your best dreams
You're more than everything I need
You're all I ever wanted
All I ever wanted”

• Cruise – Florida Georgia Line

The band name is really kind of lame, but this song is a lot of fun. Really not the best lyrics or anything, but it is fun to listen to and puts a smile on your face. There debut album just came out and I might have to give it a listen
“Baby you a song,
You make me wanna roll my windows down and cruise...
Down a back road blowin' stop signs through the middle,
Every little farm town,
With you.”

• Run Daddy Run – Pistol Annies

This is from the Hunger Games soundtrack which in a whole is quite good.
“Daddy can you hear the devil drawing near
Like a bullet from a gun, run daddy run.”

• Alone With You – Jake Owen

Really got nothing to say about it, it was a big hit for a reason.

“You’ve got me out on the edge every time you call
And I know it would kill me if I fall
I can’t be alone with you”

• Till My Last Day – Justin Moore

Really the first song from him I have really liked and I do a lot.

“Til my last day
Til my last breath
Of everyone that can, I can love you the best
Til my last day, I'll be lovin' you”

• Angel Eyes – Love and Theft

I really liked Love and Theft’s first two singles, “Runaway” and “Dancing in Circles” so I was excited to hear Angle Eyes. It’s really just an average song, but it clicks and makes for some good ear candy

“And I can’t stop wonderin’ what it would feel like, to hold her all night
She’s got that something, that sexy innocence, she must be heaven sent”

• Jesse James – Clay Walker

This was my shock single of the year as the album this is from came out in 2010. Clay Walker is one of my all time favorites it’s a shame Curb didn’t release it earlier because it probably would have charted higher, it’s a rocker of a song. The music video is pretty sweet too.

“I wanna line 'em up and drink 'em
I wanna love 'em and leave 'em
Sometimes I just wanna just ride the train
Be the first straw in to have no sun
And feel the kick of my six gun
Yeah, I "WANTED" above my name
Sometimes I wanna be like Jesus
Sometimes I wanna be Jesse James”

• Merry Go Round – Kacey Musgraves

This song reminds me so much of “Time Marches On” and that is because it is essentially the same song, still good though.

“Jack and Jill went up the hill.
Jack burned out on booze and pills.
And Mary had a little lamb.
Mary just don't give a damn no more.”