"Me and Emily" is a song co-written 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, ...

singer

Rachel Proctor Rachel Christine Proctor (born August 11, 1974) is an American country music artist. Before signing to a record deal, she co-wrote Martina McBride's 2002 single " Where Would You Be". By 2003, Proctor had signed to BNA Records, releasing her de ...

. It was released in March 2004 as the third single from her album '' Where I Belong''. Proctor wrote this song with

Chris Tompkins Christopher G. Tompkins (born Muscle Shoals, Alabama) is an American songwriter based in Nashville. Since 2002 he has co-written songs for pop, rock, and country artists Jimmy Buffett, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, ...

Content

The song is about a female who drives away from an abusive relationship, taking her daughter with her. It is in

E-flat major E-flat major (or the key of E-flat) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has three flats. Its relative minor is C minor, and its parallel minor is E minor, (or enharmonically ...

, with a main chord pattern of A2-B-Cm7-B. It is primarily accompanied by piano and guitars set to

E-flat tuning Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. By ...

. Proctor told ''

Country Weekly ''Nash Country Weekly'' was an American lifestyle weekly magazine about country artists and their music. It was in circulation between April 1994 and May 2016. The publisher, Cumulus Media, now maintains the site ''Nash Country Daily''. Overvie ...

'' that the idea came about during a songwriting session with

. She had not written a song in eight months, and "wanted a day off", but Tompkins suggested a line about "stuff scattered in the floorboard of a car." After Proctor told him that "Everybody has a driving song", he suggested that they take the story in a different direction, when Proctor came up with the phrase "me and Emily". Although neither of them had experienced domestic abuse, Proctor had been told by fans that it convinced them to leave their own abusive relationships.

BNA Records BNA Records, formerly known as BNA Entertainment, was a label group that shared ties with Arista Nashville and RCA Nashville from parent company Sony Music Nashville, which itself is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. Based in Nashville, T ...

executives insisted that Proctor cut the song, and held the release of her debut album '' Where I Belong'' until the song was released as its third single.

Critical reception

Thom Jurek of

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 ...

compared the song's intro to "

Walking in Memphis "Walking in Memphis" is a song composed and originally recorded by American singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, for whom it remains his signature song. It received a Song of the Year nomination at the 34th Grammy Awards in 1992, the same year that the ...

" by

Marc Cohn Marc Craig Cohn (; born July 5, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1992. Cohn is best known for the song "Walking in Memphis" from his eponymous 1991 album, which was a Top 40 h ...

, and said that it "shows Proctor's mettle as a lyricist ��he conviction in the grain of her voice brings to bear all the weight placed on the protagonists' decision. It's tough, believable, and full of brittle truth and that glimmer of hope that makes country songs of any stripe special."

Chart performance

"Me and Emily" debuted at number 59 on the

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 ...

dated March 13, 2004. It charted for 22 weeks and peaked at number 18.

References

{{authority control 2004 songs 2004 singles Songs about domestic violence Rachel Proctor songs Songs written by Rachel Proctor Songs written by Chris Tompkins BNA Records singles Song recordings produced by Chris Lindsey