Fill In The Blank

Album: Greg Bates (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Greg Bates co-penned this song with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne. He explained that their co-write started off slow so they went to lunch. It was when they came back, that things started to click. "That was one of the most fun days when I wrote that song," Bates said. "Josh was telling a story and he finished his story with, 'Well, you could just fill in the blank with what happens next,' and we all kind of looked at each other. We had - I call it a Nashville moment - where we had one of those moments where we all kind of looked at each other. And then within about forty-five minutes we had the song done."
  • Bates told Roughstock this was the first time he'd ever written with Shane McAnally and Josh Osbourne. "The only thing I knew about Shane was that he written 'Last Call' for LeeAnn Womack," he said. "I walked in the room, and I had this guitar part that was minor chords and groovy and vibey. We worked on that for maybe an hour or two, and we weren't really going anywhere with it. I was thinking I blew it ... it's over ... they'll never write with me again!
    "We went to lunch and came back," he continued. "Josh was telling a story, and it had nothing to do with what we were writing. At the end of the story, he goes, 'And you can just fill in the blank with how that ends.' We all looked at each other immediately, and like 30 minutes later, we had the song done. It was a lot of fun. Shane had the idea to leave a word out in the chorus, to make it have little innuendoes all the way through. It was a lot of fun to write. It was the first time I'd ever written a song with those guys, and I was so excited to play it for everybody as soon as it was done. I'm usually very close to my chest when it comes to my songs, until I feel that they are ready. That one was instantly. I was like it's done, let's go play it for everybody!"

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Benny Mardones

Benny MardonesSongwriter Interviews

His song "Into The Night" is one of the most-played of all time. For Benny, it took him to hell and back.

Bob Daisley

Bob DaisleySongwriter Interviews

Bob was the bass player and lyricist for the first two Ozzy Osbourne albums. Here's how he wrote songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" with Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.

Peter Lord

Peter LordSongwriter Interviews

You may not recognize his name, but you will certainly recognize Peter Lord's songs. He wrote the bevy of hits from Paula Abdul's second album, Spellbound.

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The Kingdom

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The KingdomSongwriter Interviews

The Bush frontman on where he finds inspiration for lyrics, if his "machine head" is a guitar tuner, and the stories behind songs from the album The Kingdom.

Spot The Real Red Hot Chili Peppers Song Titles

Spot The Real Red Hot Chili Peppers Song TitlesMusic Quiz

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have some rather unusual song titles - see if you can spot the real ones.

Hardy

HardySongwriter Interviews

The country hitmaker talks about his debut album, A Rock, and how a nursery rhyme inspired his hit single "One Beer."