Back When

Album: Live Like You Were Dying (2004)
Charted: 30
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This Stan Lynch, Stephony Smith and Jeff Stevens penned song was inspired by an incident when Smith went into the kitchen to make breakfast and saw a snake on the floor. The snake crawled into a tight space between the dishwasher and cabinets and she called Jeff Stevens and Stan Lynch to come and help her figure out how to get it out.

    "We couldn't find it," she recalled to The Boot. "We go to the office, and we're sitting there, and Jeff is real country, and he kinda started making fun of me for being a sissy about it. He said, "Back when 'a hoe' was a hoe, my mama woulda just chopped his head off." And he kept right on talking. I was gasping, like, "That's what we have to write today … you know, 'Back when 'a hoe' was a hoe and 'a coke' was a Coke.'" They were like, 'Oh, yeah, here we go.'"

Comments: 1

  • None from MarsCoke has been slang for cocaine since 1902. So a coke was never just a coke during Tim McGraw's lifetime.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

How The Beatles Crafted Killer Choruses

How The Beatles Crafted Killer ChorusesSong Writing

The author of Help! 100 Songwriting, Recording And Career Tips Used By The Beatles, explains how the group crafted their choruses so effectively.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Steely Dan

Steely DanFact or Fiction

Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine Band

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine BandSongwriter Interviews

Harry Wayne Casey tells the stories behind KC and The Sunshine Band hits like "Get Down Tonight," "That's The Way (I Like It)," and "Give It Up."

Francis Rossi of Status Quo

Francis Rossi of Status QuoSongwriter Interviews

Doubt led to drive for Francis, who still isn't sure why one of Status Quo's biggest hits is so beloved.