Outlaw You

Album: The Other Life (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song finds Shooter addressing country music's fake outlaws. Shooter's father was Waylon Jennings, a leading member of the Outlaw Movement, who fought the Nashville establishment to record music in a more authentic manner. He takes aim here at the younger country singers who don't know the history and don't understand where Outlaw came from.

    In our interview with Jennings, he said: "I heard one of those early kind of bro-country songs in a restaurant and I was like, 'What if someone did a song that sounded like this and makes fun of songs like this?' That was my initial thought and I went back and wrote that song pretty quickly."
  • Shooter says that his dad didn't like the term "outlaw," since he thought it detracted from the music.
  • The music video proved very popular, but it was done fast and cheap. It's simple a shot of Jennings walking down Music Row in Nashville singing the song while he's filmed from the back of a truck. "We shot that thing in one shot and the saddest part was, here we are with a blaring stereo walking up and down Music Row during business hours and everyone had been fired," Jennings told us. "It was so sad. The cops didn't care, the people didn't care, nobody came out. It was like, Oh man, it's kind of depressing down here. We wanted them to get mad at us for being out there and everybody had been fired and all the buildings were empty and Music Row was just asleep."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Sarah Brightman

Sarah BrightmanSongwriter Interviews

One of the most popular classical vocalists in the land is lining up a trip to space, which is the inspiration for many of her songs.

Edie Brickell

Edie BrickellSongwriter Interviews

Edie Brickell on her collaborations with Paul Simon, Steve Martin and Willie Nelson, and her 2021 album with the New Bohemians.

Trucking Songs That Were #1 Hits

Trucking Songs That Were #1 HitsSong Writing

The stories behind the biggest hit songs about trucking.

Grateful Dead Characters

Grateful Dead CharactersMusic Quiz

Many unusual folks appear in Grateful Dead songs. Can you identify them?

Angelo Moore of Fishbone

Angelo Moore of FishboneSongwriter Interviews

Fishbone has always enjoyed much more acclaim than popularity - Angelo might know why.

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," Kiss

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," KissSong Writing

After cutting his teeth on hardcore punk videos, Paul defined the grunge look with his work on "Hunger Strike" and "Man in the Box."