Lyrical ThrowDown — El Cerrito Place vs. Drunk On You

It's time for a Lyrical ThrowDown.

The first matchup features "El Cerrito Place," which was written by Keith Gattis and made famous by Kenny Chesney, against "Drunk on You," penned by Rodney Claws, Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear.

So, do lyrics matter? They do to me. I realized that again this morning while listening to Chesney's "El Cerrito Place" as loud as possible in my headphones. There are only a handful of songs that still capture that much of my attention.

Originally, "El Cerrito Place" was penned by Keith Gattis, an Austin, Texas, country singer about nine years ago. Another Texas musician, Charlie Robison, recorded it for his album "Good Times," released in 2004. It was Robison's rendition that inspired Chesney to record it for his 2012 album, “Welcome to the Fishbowl."

Great lyrics live forever.

Here's a line from "El Cerrito Place" to ponder:

"Someone said they might have seen you where the ocean meets the land
So I've been out here all night lookin' for your footprints in the sand
Did you hear the ocean singing, baby did you sing along
While you danced out in the water to some lo' forgotten song,
Were you even here at all?"

My take: Pure poetry.

There is no particular reason I chose "Drunk on You" other than to show the difference between poetry and popular.

“Girl you make my speakers go "BOOM BOOM"

Dancin' on the tailgate in a full moon
That kinda thing makes a man go mhmm mhmm
You're lookin' so good in what's left of those blue jeans
Drip of honey on the money maker gotta bee
The best buzz I'm ever gonna find.
I'm a little drunk on you, and high on summertime”

My take: It rhymes at least.

The winner? No contest. To my ears, it is Gattis by a longshot. When I hear those lines from his song, it makes me feel like he lived it somehow.

No hard feelings Rodney, Chris and Josh.

All I can say about "Drunk on You" is, it does have a good beat and, for some, that's all it takes.

I like to think of myself as coming from the “old school” of country songs. I want to feel the lyrics.

The following are examples of songwriters I think are awesome: Please take time to listen to these selections and let ’em soak in.

Kris Kristofferson "Sunday Morning Coming Down"

Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison Blues"

Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard "I Fall to Pieces" (for Patsy Cline)

Send me your song lyrics suggestions for future ThrowDown entries!

I’ll leave you with “That’s Why I Write Songs” from Jamey Johnson’s album “The Guitar Song.” This song grabbed me right from the first note and, even after hearing it dozens of times, I hang on every inflection of the singer's voice until the end.

Johnson wrote it before anyone knew his name. It's his way of letting us in, his way of telling us a part his story, a real country song with real lyrics. The kind that lasts forever.

Jamey Johnson- “That’s Why I Write Songs”

As Harlan Howard once wrote, "A Country Song is Three Chords and the Truth."