Cowgirls
feat. ERNEST
Morgan Wallen
·
20232023
“I ain’t no Superman, I’m just the way I am,” Morgan Wallen drawls on the title track of his third album. That everyday-guy status—as well as a voice smooth as bourbon—had helped propel him to the top of the charts in the late 2010s. After a short stint on The Voice gave him his first visibility in 2014, his 2018 debut, If I Know Me, went to No. 1 on the country charts, and its 2021 follow-up, Dangerous: The Double Album, firmly established him as a crossover star.
Apple Music’s top album of 2023 continues the path of Dangerous, packing in three dozen tracks about whiskey, women, and world-weariness that add high-concept metaphors and surprising cross-genre pollination (downcast nu-metal balladry, twitchy trap snares) to sturdy Nashville songwriting. Wallen’s voice ties the whole package together, his conversational delivery helping tracks like the swaying recollection “Last Night” sound as natural as morning-after phone calls; his fluid twang is a big part of his appeal, giving the way he digs into his imperfections and asserts that he’s a regular dude a shot of realism believable enough to attract stadium-size crowds.
One Thing At A Time’s 36 tracks offer country fans of all generations, whether raised on honky-tonk jukeboxes or genre-melding streaming services, something to grab onto. The rollicking “Everything I Love” interpolates The Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider,” while the besotted “180 (Lifestyle)” borrows its boastful chorus from Rich Gang’s “Lifestyle.” There are also ingenious metaphors; the rueful “’98 Braves” uses as its central conceit the legendarily thwarted run of the baseball team that at one time represented the playoff hopes of the entire South, and “You Proof” charts a lover’s allure alongside alcoholic beverages’ potency scale. It’s not the most surprising analogy, but it rings true—and it illustrates Wallen’s ability to turn life’s details into modern country anthems.
Lyrics
[Verse 1: Morgan Wallen]
She'll set the field on fire just cuttin' across a pasture
She'll have you fallin' for it all and then leave right after
And she got a cold heart but she got a warm smile
Cut from the same cloth, she kinda buck wild
Little bit angel, whole lotta outlaw
She's trouble but I'll tell you right now, y'all
[Chorus: Morgan Wallen]
Long live cowgirls
Never gonna settle on down girls
Leave you in a lonely ghost town world
Where the sun don't rise, rodeo for one night
Love you like a mustang
One hand on thеm giddy-up reins
Hole in your heart with somе good aim
On a goodbye ride but it's fine 'cause it's kinda my thing
Long live cowgirls
Yeah, long live cowgirls
[Verse 2: ERNEST]
I hate that I love the way them kisses taste like whiskey
How they wake up, take on off, and not even miss me
Leave this heart broken, holdin' that smokin' gun
I guess that's just the way them wild horses run
Let 'em run
[Chorus: ERNEST]
Long live cowgirls
Never gonna settle on down girls
Leave you in a lonely ghost town world
Where the sun don't rise, rodeo for one night
Love you like a mustang
One hand on them giddy-up reins
Hole in your heart with some good aim
On a goodbye ride but it's fine 'cause it's kinda my thing
Long live cowgirls
Yeah, long live cowgirls
[Bridge: Morgan Wallen]
Come on, cowgirls
Don't you wanna take me away?
Lay me on down, girl
With the wild kind of lovin' you make
For God's sake
[Chorus: Morgan Wallen, Morgan Wallen & ERNEST]
Long live cowgirls
Never gonna settle on down girls
Leave you in a lonely ghost town world
Where the sun don't rise, rodeo for one night
Love you like a mustang
One hand on them giddy-up reins
Hole in your heart with some good aim
On a goodbye ride but it's fine 'cause it's kinda my thing
Long live cowgirls
Yeah, long live cowgirls
[Outro: Morgan Wallen]
Long live cowgirls
Yeah, long live cowgirls
