I Can't Take You Anywhere

Album: The Coast Is Clear (2003)
Charted: 91
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Songfacts®:

  • Scotty Emerick wrote this song as a double-entendre about a relationship breaking up. "The guy can't go anywhere without somebody bringing her up in conversation," he says, "and physically he can't take her anywhere anymore. So we get the guy going out and getting something to eat, and just everywhere he goes, he's reminded of her." And he explains how the writing of that song progressed: "We started that chorus, 'Struck a nerve, hit a vein, I think from all the tears I cry and this broken-hearted pain, I wouldn't have to carry you around, but no matter where I go somebody wants to know where you've been, are you coming back again, I swear I can't take you anywhere.' It's actually a sad song with a cool R&B count beat to it."
  • As convincing as Scotty sounds singing this song, it's really not about a personal experience. He just put himself in someone else's shoes and let his imagination run. He says, "I've definitely had those feelings of losing somebody. But no, this wasn't personal. I wasn't hurting over anybody myself at that time. You kind of just have to put yourself in somebody else's spot, because every song you write can't be a personal deal. At least for me, it can't."
  • Scotty's buddy Toby Keith lends his voice to this song, as the "voice of a good friend" leaving a message on his answering machine about - what else? - the girl he can't take anywhere. (Check out our interview with Scotty Emerick.)

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