What I Can't Put Down

Album: Write You a Song (2014)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Jon Pardi penned this country stomper with his producer Bart Butler (Bobby Pinson's "Don't Ask Me How I Know," Thomas Rhett's "Make Me Wanna") and Brice Long (Randy Houser's "Anything Goes" Gary Allan's "Nothing On But The Radio" and "Today"). It finds the singer comparing his craving for a girl to his addiction to whiskey and cigarettes. "We wrote this song last year, and I remember it just kind of poured out," Pardi told Roughstock in March 2014. "I kind of had the line 'the devil wears black and he goes by jack, and he's really good at helping me forget …' I was just kind of rambling on. It's all really about the fun things that I can't put down."

    "The chorus is kind of an anthem of what you can't put down, not in a bad way," Pardi added. "Just about drinkin', smokin', girls and playing music... everything I can't put down."
  • Pardi first played the song during the Justin Moore Outlaws Like Me tour, and the crowd response was a deciding factor when finalizing the track list for Up All Night. "'What I Can't Put Down'… right when we started playing that, man, it was just like a different ballgame after that for the crowd on the live show," said Pardi. "Then guys and girls would be on Twitter [asking for] 'What I Can't Put Down,' or they would remember it. That's stuff you cannot ignore that for an album."
  • The song's music clip was produced by Tacklebox's The Edde Brothers. "We shot the video at Whiskey Bent Saloon downtown (Nashville), which is cool because that's where we started out playing years ago," said Pardi. "Then I got to wear my Manuel jackets again for the performance shots – one with my black jacket and an all-black setup; the other with my white jacket and an all-white setup. It was really fun to shoot and I think turned out pretty cool."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Dave Alvin - "4th Of July"

Dave Alvin - "4th Of July"They're Playing My Song

When Dave recorded the first version of the song with his group the Blasters, producer Nick Lowe gave him some life-changing advice.

Incongruent Opening Acts

Incongruent Opening ActsSong Writing

Here's what happens when an opening act is really out of place with the headliner, like when Beastie Boys opened for Madonna.

Tanita Tikaram

Tanita TikaramSongwriter Interviews

When she released her first album in 1988, Tanita became a UK singing sensation at age 19. She talks about her darkly sensual voice and quirky songwriting style.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Metallica

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in Songs

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in SongsSong Writing

Elvis, Little Richard and Cheryl Cole have all sung about Teddy Bears, but there is also a terrifying Teddy song from 1932 and a touching trucker Teddy tune from 1976.