‘60 Songs That Explain the ’90s’: Garth Brooks, “Friends in Low Places”

On the second-to-last episode of ‘60 Songs That Explain the ’90s,’ we’re covering Garth’s massive country shout-along

60 Songs That Explain the ’90s is back for its final stretch run (and a brand-new book!). Join The Ringer’s Rob Harvilla as he treks through the soundtrack of his youth, one song (and embarrassing anecdote) at a time. Follow and listen for free on Spotify. In Episode 119 of 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s—yep, you read that right—we’re covering Garth Brooks’s “Friends in Low Places.” Read an excerpt below.

Are you familiar with this song by Death Cab for Cutie, the indie-rock band Death Cab for Cutie, this early song of theirs from 2000 called “Company Calls Epilogue”? I don’t know why they called it that. That is a ridiculous ultra-emo song title. I didn’t name the song. They don’t let me name any of this shit. This is a song about a sad guy who shows up at his former lover’s wedding and gets drunk and causes a scene and humiliates himself.

Screaming drunk disorderly—it goes on. Great song. I’m actually serious. I like that song quite a bit. Very somber, very serious song. Garth Brooks also has a song about disrupting a former lover’s wedding. But one way to articulate the difference between country music and quote, unquote indie rock is that country music is aware that this scenario, that this idea of getting loaded and ruining your ex’s wedding, is funny.

A wedding is never specified, and I vastly prefer the phrase black-tie affair, but yeah, this is a wedding, dude. Brooks’s second album, released in 1990, is called No Fences and has sold 18 million copies in the United States. It is the ninth-best-selling album of all time in this country. It is just ahead of Come On Over by Shania Twain at no. 10, and just behind Journey’s Greatest Hits at no. 8. Perfect. That’s actually perfect. No Fences includes the song “The Thunder Rolls.” No Fences also includes the song “Unanswered Prayers,” which is another of my very favorite Brooks songs, but I’m feeling extra glib right now and I’m worried that if I try to explain why I like that song so much it’ll sound insincere, so I’m just gonna tell you it’s one of my favorites and keep it moving.

And yeah, No Fences has a song called “Friends in Low Places.” A song famous enough to have its own established lore. Sing it with me: Two songwriters, Dewayne Blackwell and Earl Bud Lee, are hanging out in a bar in Nashville. It’s time to pay the tab for all these drinks. It’s a huge tab because they’re songwriters in Nashville. Dewayne says to Earl, “How are you gonna pay for this?” And Earl says, “Don’t worry, I know the cook. I got friends in low places.” What bar was this? In some versions it’s Tavern on the Green; in some versions it’s the Longhorn. Was Dewayne even there? Probably, but in some versions Earl’s hanging out with other songwriter dudes and Earl makes his funny joke and Earl just tells Dewayne later about the funny joke he’d made. I do that. “Dude, you should’ve heard this hilarious thing I said the other night.” That’s what this whole show is.

Couple of months later, Earl and Dewayne are at a party celebrating some other songwriter’s new no. 1 hit, and Earl and Dewayne remember the phrase “friends in low places.” And suddenly they’re writing the whole song on a napkin right there at the party. At least some of this backstory sounds super made-up, but print the legend, man. Write the legend on a napkin. You know who I feel bad for? This guy.

I feel bad for two guys, actually. Three versions of the song “Friends in Low Places” are released in 1989 and 1990, by—I believe this is in chronological order—David Chamberlain, Brooks, and Mark Chesnutt, respectively. This is Mark, singing. Lovely voice, Mark. The Chamberlain version was the B-side to a song called “I Finally Made It (Where You Told Me to Go).” Great song title, David. I feel bad for Mark and David. Their versions of “Friends in Low Places” are less famous than Garth’s. I think Mark and David should go on tour with those dudes who released the original version of “Achy Breaky Heart”—I forget the name of that band, but it seems ruder to Google it now—and they should call it the No, Fuck You Tour. But yeah, Garth’s version, uh, endures.

And it’s a phenomenal song right there on the napkin, right? There’s a very pleasing Class Anthem vibe to “Friends in Low Places.” The boots at the black-tie affair. Champagne here in the first verse, beer and whisky for the chorus. Second verse, you get the line “I’ll be as high as that ivory tower that you’re livin’ in.” This is a phenomenal collection of words, but you don’t sell 18 million copies of the album this song’s on unless you can sing the hell out of those words. I wrote this down in my notes: Brooks sings the hell out of this song. Dig the way Brooks delivers the words you, honey, through, and complain like they’re four different types of top-shelf alcohol.