Toby Keith, ‘A Few More Cowboys’ [Listen]
Toby Keith is returning to more topical fare with his latest song, "A Few More Cowboys," and his fans will all be better off for it.
Keith has always had an unusual ability to balance out the rowdier, party-hearty aspects of his many drinking songs with more serious lyrical themes, but he does it in a way that doesn't preach. He's not talking down to his audience; Keith is on the barstool right next to you, sharing a few drinks while lamenting the current state of the world and offering up some common sense solutions.
In "A Few More Cowboys," which he co-wrote with Bobby Pinson and Dean Dillon, Keith says the world would be a better place if it contained a few more cowboys, because, "With a few more cowboys, there’d be a lot less outlaws.”
He addresses political issues in a light-hearted but serious way, too, singing, “If the White House was in Texas, man, we’d get a straighter answer / If they’d let us smoke what we want, we’d have a lot less cancer," and suggesting that supporting American-made products would help us "keep it here at home."
Musically the song is a fairly straight-ahead, mid-tempo country song that is, if not strictly traditional, certainly closer to traditional country music than most of what's currently at country radio. Keith delivers it with his usual no-frills vocal style, which keeps the focus on the lyrics as it should be. After stumbling at country radio with his most recent offerings, including "Drunk Americans," "35 MPH Town" and "Beautiful Stranger," Keith is firmly back in his wheelhouse with "A Few More Cowboys," which appears to be the lead single from a forthcoming new project.
Listen to Toby Keith, "A Few More Cowboys"
The Best Songs of 2016 So Far? See Our Picks!
Toby Keith, "A Few More Cowboys" Lyrics:
“If the White House was in Texas, man, we’d get a straighter answer / If they’d let us smoke what we want, we’d have a lot less cancer / Be a lot more daddies sons could be proud of / We'd have half the crime, we'd have twice the fun."
Chorus:
"With a few more cowboys, be a lot less outlaws / With a few more amens, be a lot less bad calls / With a few more yes ma'ams, and a lot less yes men / This world would be a better place to live in with a few more cowboys."
"If we did it with a handshake, we'd save a lot of paper / That'd save a lot of trees we're shipping overseas to make 'er / If we stood by our word and took care of our own / Bought it made in the U.S.A. we'd keep it here at home."
"If we had a little more grit, less politics and more fist fights / If we met 'em at high noon, hell it's about high time / We looked 'em in the eye, got our heads out of the sand / Hit 'em with a big John Wayne, by god they'd understand."
Repeat Chorus