Co-written by Cole Swindell with Ashley Gorley, Michael Hardy and Mark Holman, this uptempo pop-country song tells the story of a guy's last night out as a single man. Swindell recounts his life-changing Saturday drinking session with some buddies, when a girl caught his eye.
And I thought, man, what a beautiful sight
Ain't a morning you don't wake up in my shirt now
Even holding hands walking out of church now
Who'd of thought, baby, looking back that
That would be my last single Saturday night
Little did he know that this would be his last night out as a single man.
Swindell had been planning to introduce the song to fans on his headlining Down to Earth tour. However, once the coronavirus pandemic put a stop to that, the singer used his unexpected free time in quarantine to polish off the song. He released "Single Saturday Night" on May 22, 2020 hoping its fun concept would be a boost during an uncertain time.
Fans' response to the song was overwhelmingly positive, so much so that Swindell felt bound to release it as an official single the following month.
Directed by Michael Monaco and Eder Acevedo, the song's video finds Swindell falling asleep in front of his TV while watching news of COVID-19 and the collapsing economy. During his dream the singer floats in space, roams with camels in the desert and shows up on a baseball field along with his bandmates. There are also brief appearances by Luke Bryan and Hardy.
Monaco and Acevedo filmed the video during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, so everybody shot their parts separately. Their scenes were combined with computer graphics, existing footage, and plenty of green screen.
"We wanted to have fun with it - that was our whole thing. We didn't want to shoot a little video of me in a bar seeing a girl or whatever. We wanted to just have fun, and that's what this video is," Swindell said.
He added: "With the times we're in, I was like, 'Man, it's going to have to be somewhat of a Zoom-looking video,' and then just came in with an idea of just me and the band guys."
"We had to get really creative shooting because we were still in quarantine, and it ended being one of the most fun videos I've ever done," Swindell continued. "Because of having that extra time I was able to be really involved in the creative and editing process and this video is a snapshot of my quarantine of trying to tune out all of the bad news and dreaming of being back out on the road at live shows with my band and fans."
Gorley and Hardy separately reached out to Swindell about recording the song the same night. Because of their enthusiasm, the singer quickly listened to their demo and was struck by the "different" sound. The lyrics also stood out, particularly one about red lips drinking a White Claw and the two references to church. "The whole twist at the end about from going to church to picking out one," he told
The Boot. "I thought that was brilliant in a fun song like this."
Cole Swindell was single when he recorded "Single Saturday Night." He told ABC Audio he's looking forward to finding a longtime love like in the tune. "That's the thing about this song," he said, "even though I hadn't had my last single Saturday night, but like a lot of other people out there, hopefully it's someday soon."
