Single Review: ‘Drunk on a Plane’ – Dierks Bentley
10 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on Single Review: ‘Drunk on a Plane’ – Dierks Bentley
Songwriters: Josh Kear, Chris Tompkins, Dierks Bentley
From what is arguably Dierks Bentley‘s most accomplished collection to date, Riser, comes the third single, ‘Drunk on a Plane.’
It is, as Eric Paslay taught us, of course not really about drinking but about a woman. Left at the altar holding honeymoon tickets to Cancun, the devastated man boards the plane alone and tries to numb the pain with an in-flight party.
If you are a songwriter, you should be envious of these lyrics. Not relying on alcohol-fueled cliches, the writers use wedding-related imagery to translate the character’s feelings – “I feel like a plastic groom alone there at the top of the cake.” And then there is the near-perfect chorus! With a changing melody and the playing with rhythm, it keeps the mood light and provides a perfect balance for the gloomier verses.
Ross Copperman kept the arrangement sparse, leaving the vocal to carry the song. Weeping guitar and piano underscore the sentiments, and a soft fiddle joins in the second verse to add some melancholy. Contrary to many other releases, the levels remain fairly steady into the choruses, not letting a wave of sound drown out the vocal, and instead relying on the increase in energy and extra percussion to make them big and bright.
Let’s hope that songs like ‘Drunk on a Plane’ can usher in a new era of more thoughtful drinking songs.
Liv Carter
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
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