Brad Paisley photo by David McClister, courtesy of Arista Nashville.
July 7, 2009 — Quick-witted Brad Paisley never fails to make fans laugh with hits like "Ticks," "Celebrity," "Alcohol" and "I'm Gonna Miss Her." But while his new single, "Welcome to the Future," still contains well-crafted lyrics, the words have a more serious tone.
Brad sings:
I had a friend in school, running-back on a football team
They burned a cross in his front yard, for asking out the home-coming queen
I thought about him today, everybody who's seen what he's seen
From a woman on a bus, to a man with a dream
I had a friend in school, running-back on a football team
They burned a cross in his front yard, for asking out the home-coming queen
I thought about him today, everybody who's seen what he's seen
From a woman on a bus, to a man with a dream
Brad tells the Los Angeles Times that the election of President Obama was the inspiration for that verse.
"There was an amazing shift in public emotion that night," he says. "It was breathtaking. I felt like in country music, we're the first ones to write about some kind of conflict, or war, and yet we shy away from these other topics, like equal rights. I had that idea, and Chris20DuBois, the song's co-writer, and I started mulling this around. I said, 'I don't want it to be a dark song in any way; I want it to be as hopeful as it can be. We need to make this point and make it well.'"
"I wanted to get the emotion of it without being the least bit preachy,'' Brad adds. "Republican or Democrat, on Nov. 4 you had to be moved. People stood there in disbelief at the turn our country had taken. There was a sense of pride, no matter who you were. I remember having discussions on my bus, in my household: Could he really win this? A lot of people were saying, 'I don't know if it's time, if the country's ready.' And then all of a sudden, I guess we're ready. Welcome to the future.
"It's the proudest thing I've ever recorded,'' said Brad.
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