Nobody's Talking

Album: Still Standing (1990)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • A #2 Country hit for Exile, "Nobody's Talking" was written by the group's bass player Sonny LeMaire and the Nashville stalwart Randy Sharp, whose credits include "Why Does it Have to Be (Wrong or Right)" by Restless Heart and "Then What" by Clay Walker.

    Sharp's bragging rights on this song include a lyrical twist in logic. "What I liked about it is kind of the inside out... he wants to know what nobody's talking about. There's a neat little brain teaser in that. He wants to hear what's not being said. And there's also a little cool thing just for writers," he explains. "There's a whole thing about 'everybody hesitates,' the word 'hesitate' is in there, and as it's said, there's a hesitation…. so it's like just a little cool inside trick where we actually act out the word when it's being used. Listen to it closely, and when the word 'hesitate' comes up, it comes up a beat later than you'd expect it to, because we wrote the hesitation in the lyric."
  • As much as the general public would like to believe it, a life of fame is not an easy one. This song was culled from the experiences of the Exile band members. Randy says there are lots of stories "where they come off the road and come home thinking life's going to be a certain way, and they get home and there's nobody there. The girlfriend's moved out, but none of the friends will talk about it or tell him what happened. There were lots of examples of that story." The band has been on the road for years, and they've all been married two or three times, and the scenario in this song was played out many times in real life. So for the song, "we just pieced it together as a new event. It's a tough life. Those guys have been doing it for so long, too. In fact, the lead singer when I was there, Paul Martin, was younger than the band. That's how long the band had been together." (Read more in our interview with Randy Sharp.)

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Eric Clapton

Eric ClaptonFact or Fiction

Did Eric Clapton really write "Cocaine" while on cocaine? This question and more in the Clapton edition of Fact or Fiction.

What Musicians Are Related to Other Musicians?

What Musicians Are Related to Other Musicians?Song Writing

A big list of musical marriages and family relations ranging from the simple to the truly dysfunctional.

Bible Lyrics

Bible LyricsMusic Quiz

Rockers, rappers and pop stars have been known to quote the Bible in their songs. See if you match the artist to the biblical lyric.

Gilby Clarke

Gilby ClarkeSongwriter Interviews

The Guns N' Roses rhythm guitarist in the early '90s, Gilby talks about the band's implosion and the side projects it spawned.

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat WorldSongwriter Interviews

Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.

Chris Fehn of Slipknot

Chris Fehn of SlipknotSongwriter Interviews

A drummer for one of the most successful metal bands of the last decade, Chris talks about what it's like writing and performing with Slipknot. Metal-neck is a factor.