"She Won't Be Lonely Long" is a song written by Galen Griffin, Doug Johnson and Phil O'Donnell, 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, ...
artist Clay Walker. It was released in December 2009 as the first single and title track from his album ''
She Won't Be Lonely Long
''She Won't Be Lonely Long'' is the ninth studio album by American country music artist Clay Walker, and was released on June 8, 2010, via Curb Records. It is Walker's first studio album since 2007's ''Fall''.
Background
On February 2, 2010, Curb ...
''. It is his most successful charting single since "
The Chain of Love
"The Chain of Love" is a song written by Rory Feek and Jonnie Barnett, and recorded by American country music singer Clay Walker. It was released in January 2000 as the third single from his album '' Live, Laugh, Love''. "The Chain of Love" reac ...
" in 2000.
Background
Walker said, “I wanted the first single off my forthcoming album to reflect the work I’ve been doing to become the artist I want to be. ‘She Won’t Be Lonely Long’ is an example of these steps and this work.” He also said, “Lyrically, it is a song that resonates with both women and men because we all want to look our best once we are unexpectedly ‘back on the market.’”
Walker also stated in another interview that he was attracted to the song saying, "I'm a believer in songs people can dance to, more of those songs tend to be hits. When I first heard the song on a demo, it made me feel like dancing. The melody was very infectious and the beat was good, and I thought that the lyric was just outstanding." Walker told '' Country Weekly'', "It's rare that you can find a song that has a melody and lyric that are equally strong. Usually one is going to out weigh the other, but in this case it's hard to tell what I like more, the melody or the lyric."
In an interview with '' GAC'' Walker explained the song by saying, "I've played in bars my whole life. As a singer, you have a bird's eye view of everyone in the club. When a good-looking woman walks in, you notice it. What makes it so real is that if a guy does a girl wrong, the first thing she wants to do is go out, look great, show him that you're not the best I ever had, I'm the best YOU ever had."
Walker told the ''
Yuma Sun
The ''Yuma Sun'' is a newspaper in Yuma, Arizona, United States. It has a circulation of 18,799.
Content
"She Won't Be Lonely Long" is a moderate up-tempo song, featuring accompaniment from
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 ...
and
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
. The song deals with a male narrator's fascination with a woman whose lover had just left her (i.e. "the way she's dancin' and drinkin' Chill Patron.") He also plans to date the woman, stating that "if she's lonely now, she won't be lonely long."
Critical reception
Matt Bjorke of ''Roughstock'' gave the song a favorable review. He described it as "a laid-back single that finds Walker not only in fine voice but singing a solid country song about how you can read body language and social cues of a woman who has stepped out on a lonely relationship to test the waters." The ''
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
'' wrote "if the song has the laid-back, steel-guitar lope of an old-school '90s hit, well, that only makes Walker's return more welcome." Kevin John Coyne of ''Country Universe'' listed "She Won't Be Lonely Long" as the 22nd best single of 2010 and wrote, "ringing with effortless charisma and playful sincerity, the lead single off Walker’s latest album was a welcomed reintroduction to his most beloved qualities." Kyle Ward of ''Roughstock'' listed the song as the 17th best single of 2010 and wrote, "A surprise hit that gives me hope that 90’s country isn’t dead and buried just yet."
Live performances
In December 2010 Walker also performed "She Won't Be Lonely Long" on ''
The Fran Drescher Show
''The Fran Drescher Show'' (also called ''The Fran Drescher Tawk Show'') is an American talk show hosted by actress Fran Drescher. The series premiered on November 26, 2010, in six cities on Fox owned stations: New York on WNYW, Los Angeles on KT ...
''. Walker also performed the song on ''
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
'' on June 11, 2010, and on ''
Lopez Tonight
''Lopez Tonight'' is an American late-night television talk show that was hosted by the comedian George Lopez. The hour-long program premiered on November 9, 2009, on cable network TBS. Lopez was the first Mexican-American to host a late-night ...
'' on July 13, 2010.
Music video
A
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
was filmed for the song on April 9, 2010. Directed by Marcel, the video shows Walker walking on the beach, singing the song. It also features him, on a farm, filming a woman with a
camcorder
A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...
. The woman in the video is Walker's wife Jessica. The music video was filmed at Walker's ranch in Tennessee and his horses were also featured in the video. Walker stated in an interview with The Boot, "It was great making the video there. Being in love does make everything sweeter. And before we knew it, making that video, the day was over. It went by that fast!"
During a behind the scenes look at the making of the video Walker stated he and Marcel, "got together and said let's shoot this video together, so we co-directed it. One of the things that came to mind was the
Twilight
Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this il ...
movies where there is so much intensity built in through glances and looks being in the woods and I said hey man I think it would be kind of cool if we put a horse in the video that is just running free, more or less behind us and so we put Pearl in there.Walker, Clay Behind the Scenes /ref>
Chart performance
"She Won't Be Lonely Long" 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 ...
chart dated November 28, 2009, about a week before its initial release date. It peaked at number 4 on that chart, Walker's highest-peaking single since his 2000 single, "
The Chain of Love
"The Chain of Love" is a song written by Rory Feek and Jonnie Barnett, and recorded by American country music singer Clay Walker. It was released in January 2000 as the third single from his album '' Live, Laugh, Love''. "The Chain of Love" reac ...
". It also debuted at number 99 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for the chart dated April 17, 2010.