"Me and My Gang" is a song written by

Jeffrey Steele Jeffrey LeVasseur (born August 27, 1961), known as Jeffrey Steele, is an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with recording his own material, Steele has become a prolific Nashville songwriter, having co-written more than 60 hit ...

, Jon Stone, and

Tony Mullins Tony Mullins (born in Pound, Virginia) is an American country music songwriter. Mullins moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1992, where he worked with Byron Gallimore's publishing company. Among his first cuts was Kenny Chesney's "How Forever Feels ...

and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

group

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cousi ...

. It was released on April 17, 2006 as the second single and title track from the band's 2006 album of the same name. The song peaked at #6 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart that year.

Content

"Me and My Gang" is an up-tempo accompanied by

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

with a

talk box A talk box (also spelled talkbox and talk-box) is an effects unit that allows musicians to modify the sound of a musical instrument by shaping the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto the sou ...

in the intro. In it, the male narrator talks about traveling across the country with his

gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

. Tony Mullins, one of the song's writers, said that he came up with the song's main riff while working on another song.

then heard the riff and decided that it seemed to fit a title, "Me and My Gang", that he had in his mind at the time. While working on recording the song, Rascal Flatts' lead singer

Gary LeVox Gary LeVox (born Gary Wayne Vernon Jr., July 10, 1970) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for being the lead vocalist of the contemporary country music band Rascal Flatts, and his stage name was taken from the studio-console label ...

called Mullins and asked if the original line "dude named king kong eattin' on a ding dong" in the song could be changed. This line became "Dude named Elrod, jammin' on an

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

", which Mullins says was the first line that came to him.

Critical reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

critic

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

, in reviewing the album, said that the song seemed like a simplification of

Big & Rich Big & Rich is an American country music duo composed of Big Kenny and John Rich, both of whom are songwriters, vocalists, and guitarists. Before the duo's foundation, Rich was bass guitarist in the country band Lonestar, while Kenny was a solo ...

's "swagger" and featured similar talk-box riffs to

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...

's "

Livin' on a Prayer "Livin' on a Prayer" is a song by the American rock band Bon Jovi, and is the band's second chart-topping single from their third album '' Slippery When Wet''. Written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child, the single, released in ...

Personnel

From ''Me and My Gang'' liner notes. *

Tom Bukovac Tom Bukovac is an American session musician and producer. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in nearby Willowick, Ohio. He has been a Nashville-based musician since 1992. He previously owned 2nd Gear, a used music consignment shop in Sou ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s * Eric Darken -

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Jay DeMarcus Jay DeMarcus (born Stanley Wayne DeMarcus Jr.; on April 26, 1971) is an American bassist, vocalist, pianist, record producer and songwriter. From 1999 to 2021, he was a member of the country pop group Rascal Flatts. Early life DeMarcus was born ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004, and 2016 at the Co ...

- guitars * Charlie Judge -

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

Chris McHugh Chris McHugh (born 1964) is an American musician. He began his career as the drummer of Christian rock band White Heart from 1986 to 1989. He also worked in the recording of several of their later albums. Chris McHugh is on the Nashville "A" li ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Joe Don Rooney Joe Don Rooney (born September 13, 1975 in Baxter Springs, KS) is an American musician. From 1999 to 2021, he was the lead guitarist and high octave harmony singer in the American country pop trio Rascal Flatts. In addition to the Electric guitar ...

- guitars *

Jonathan Yudkin Jonathan Yudkin is an American multi-instrumentalist who is a proficient player of banjo, violin, mandolin, and other stringed instruments. He is a Nashville-based session musician, record producer, arranger, and band leader. Biography Growin ...

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

Charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2006 singles 2006 songs Rascal Flatts songs Songs written by Jeffrey Steele Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Lyric Street Records singles Songs written by Tony Mullins