"Thinkin' Problem" 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, o ...

singer David Ball. Ball co-wrote the song with

Allen Shamblin Allen Shamblin is a country music songwriter who was born in Tennessee, and was brought up in Huffman, Texas. After graduating from Sam Houston State University he worked in Austin as a real estate appraiser. In 1987, he quit his job and mov ...

and Stuart Ziff. It was released in March 1994 as the lead-off single and title track from his album ''

Thinkin' Problem ''Thinkin' Problem'' is the second studio album by American country music artist David Ball. It was released in 1994 (see 1994 in country music) on Warner Bros. Records Nashville. Although he had recorded an eponymous album for RCA Nashville i ...

''. The song reached number 2 on the

Hot Country Singles & Tracks 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 sa ...

(now Hot Country Songs) chart, and number 1 on Canada's ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimension ...

'' country chart. It also earned Ball a nomination for the

Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by ...

at the

37th Annual Grammy Awards The 37th Annual Grammy Awards were presented on March 1, 1995, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Bruce Springsteen was the night's biggest winner with 4 awards, including Song ...

in 1995.

Content

"Thinkin' Problem" is a moderate up-tempo with

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 gu ...

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...

, and fiddle flourishes. In it, the male narrator states that he has a "thinkin' problem" (meant as a play on the term "

drinking problem Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...

") because he is constantly thinking about his former significant other despite numerous attempts to quit. The song begins with the famous phrase "Yes I admit, I've got a thinkin' problem", with the final syllable of the word "admit" drawn out.

Music video

The music video was directed by O Pictures and premiered in early 1994.

Critical reception

Rick Cohoon 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 dat ...

gave the song a mixed review, saying that it "is the fuel that ignited Ball's launch into stardom" but that "he tends to over-nasalize to the point of annoyance." Deborah Evans Price, of ''

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 advertis ...

'' magazine reviewed the song favorably calling it a "perfect combination of retro sensibility and '90s production, and a pure honky-tonk delight."''

'', April 2, 1994

Parody

Cledus T. Judd James Barry Poole (born December 18, 1964) is an American country music artist who records under the name Cledus T. Judd. Known primarily for his parodies of popular country songs, he has been called the "Weird Al" Yankovic of country music, and ...

, a country music

parodist A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its su ...

, parodied the song as "Stinkin' Problem" on his 1995 debut album '' Cledus T. Judd (No Relation)''.

Chart positions

"Thinkin' Problem" debuted at number 72 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of April 16, 1994.

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1994 singles 1994 songs David Ball (country singer) songs Songs written by Allen Shamblin Song recordings produced by Blake Chancey Warner Records singles Songs written by David Ball (country singer)