Oct. 27 – “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” – Tracy Lawrence

This week for Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has prompted us with songs pertaining to Lost/Found/Hide/Seek. I spun mine off the word “Found”.

Tracy Lawrence hit the country music scene in 1991 when his debut album, Sticks and Stones was released. Tracy went on to have hit after hit for the next 5 years. I will save those for another day. He was born in Atlanta, Texas and grew up in Foreman, Arkansas. Tracy began performing at age 15 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1990 with only a few dollars in his pocket & a vehicle that barely made it there.

I was an instant fan & joined his fan club which I remained in for many years. Tracy’s fan club was the only fan club I have ever joined. I have attended 6 of Tracy’s concerts over the years and was able to be backstage at a concert in 2003 at the Entertainment Center located on the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, Florida. It was a 3 for 1 that night because Joe Diffie & Mark Chesnutt performed as well. After 5 other concerts, I was finally able to meet the man that I had followed since he began his career. It was a thrill! After the meet & greet, it was time for the concert and Tracy came out on stage with a #47 (John Lynch) Tampa Bay Buccaneers football jersey. The “Bucs” had just won the Superbowl XXXVII the week before. I was stoked! Below is my mint condition Superbowl winning John Lynch Bobblehead. I took it out of the box to share with you. Maybe in 200 years, it will be worth more than the $40 it goes for on Amazon right now. I only paid $10 in 2003, so it has already gone up in value.

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“Find Out Who Your Friends Are” was written by Casey Beathard & Ed Hill. It was the lead-off single on Tracy’s “For the Love” album released in 2007 on Tracy’s own label Rocky Comfort Records and Lawrence Music Group. This song was released as a single on August 21, 2006 and debuted on the Hot Country Music Songs chart on September 19, 2006. It made it to the top 40 on January 13, 2007, but fell out a week later. After the album release on January 30, 2007, it went to number one on both the Billboard & Mediabase country charts. Once it reached #1 in June 2007, it set a new record for the slowest-climbing #1 single in the history of the Billboard Country Music Chart and the second-slowest song to climb the Billboard singles chart. “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” was Tracy’s first Billboard #1 since 1996. It put him back in the spotlight.

On the “For the Love” album, Tracy featured two versions of “Find Out Who Your Friends Are”. One was sung by Tracy himself and the other was a remix version featuring country music artists Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney. Both of whom are Tracy’s friends. The remix ran into some legal trouble the week before the single reached #1. A cease and desist order was issued on behalf of Sony BMG (the parent company of BNA Records) which was the label Kenny Chesney was signed to at the time. This order was presented to several radio stations that were monitored by Billboard. The order stated that Sony BMG did not grant Rocky Comfort Records the “singles” rights with respect to the album version of the song & had not authorized radio stations to play this particular recording. Well, the radio stations continued to play the remix version of the song regardless of the demands from Sony BMG. The fans loved the remix! Only 1 day after the release of the order, Sony BMG issued a formal apology to the radio stations who received the cease and desist letter.

The tale to this song is about finding oneself in different situations and needing help when in trouble. Who are your true friends that are willing to show up and help you in your time of need without asking for anything in return? The song is very relatable to real life.

The music video which debuted on CMT on August 16, 2007 features appearances by George Jones and Darryl Worley. Larry the Cable Guy makes a cameo appearance as well.

Find Out Who Your Friends Are
Run your car off the side of the road
Get stuck in a ditch way out in the middle of nowhere
Get yourself in a bind, lose the shirt off your back
Need a floor, need a couch, need a bus fare
This is where the rubber meets the road
This is where the cream is gonna rise
This is what you really didn't know
This is where the truth don't lie
You find out who your friends are
Somebody's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas get their fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?' or 'it's way too far.'
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who you're friends are
Everybody wants to slap your back
Wants to shake your hand
When you're up on top of that mountain
But let one of those rocks give way then you slide back down look up
And see who's around then
This ain't where the road comes to an end
This ain't where the bandwagon stops
This is just one of those times when
A lot of folks jump off
You find out who your friends are
Somebody's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas get there fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?' or 'it's way too far.'
They just show on up with that big old heart
You find out who you're friends are
When the water's high
When the weather's not so fair
When the well runs dry
Who's gonna be there?
You find out who your friends are
Somebody's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas get there fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?' or 'it's way too far.'
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who you're friends are, you find out who you're friends are [Repeat first verse}
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Casey Beathard / Edward Monroe Hill
Find Out Who Your Friends Are lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG Rights Management