The Chills

Album: Any Man in America (2011)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This hard-edged, anthemic song is the first single from Texan alternative rock band Blue October's sixth studio album, Any Man in America. The tune was made available for digital download on May 31, 2011 and sent to radio on June 27, 2011.
  • After the release of Blue October's Approaching Normal, frontman Justin Furstenfeld found himself fighting a bitter custody battle over his daughter Blue Reed. On one occasion, after not seeing his daughter for three months, the singer blacked out in an airport and had to be hospitalized. Any Man in America chronicles these events. He explained to Guitar World: "It's my last chance as a father to tell the world things I wasn't able to tell when I was put through a custody battle that was so illegal because I was a man. We live in the land of the free, but we're screwed up when it comes to the rights of divorced fathers. I've got to tell the world what happened, who did it and what the judge's and the cops' names are. I'll probably get in trouble for it, but I don't care. I want my daughter to see that, while I might not have been there, I never walked out."
  • Furstenfeld explained the meaning of the song title to AntiMusic: "These are the chills that piss you off, because they're more like feeling that you're being controlled by another person. This is the type of feeling that gives you these chills. Yet you still keep falling for it, again and again and again. And that falling for it perpetuates these chills. They can be a good thing in a healthy relationship. But in an unhealthy relationship when there is a child involved, those chills are not good news and never really go away. Except now, those chills would come from my daughter looking at us both and saying 'Why can't we just all be together?' Those are the f--kin' chills I'm talking about."

Comments: 1

  • Kim from Canterbury, United KingdomGoing to see Blue October in London, can't wait!!
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

Richard Marx

Richard MarxSongwriter Interviews

Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

John Doe of X

John Doe of XSongwriter Interviews

With his X-wife Exene, John fronts the band X and writes their songs.

Yoko Ono

Yoko OnoSongwriter Interviews

At 80 years old, Yoko has 10 #1 Dance hits. She discusses some of her songs and explains what inspired John Lennon's return to music in 1980.

Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennittSongwriter Interviews

The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.