Montgomery Gentry has had hit after hit by scouring Nashville for great songs. Their current number 1 is no exception musically, but as we'll see, the lyrics are a bit of a let down. That said, the message of the song is universal and very appealing.

YouTube: Roll With Me (sorry I couldn't embed it, but Sony turned off emedding for this song. They don't want it to get all over the internet where people might hear it and decide to go buy it)

Roll With Me was produced by Gentry B.Chancey and written by C.Daniels T.Karlas, according to Billboard.biz. It's from their latest CD called Back When I Knew It All.

Rundown:

• Intro: 14 seconds
• Duration: 3:52
• Temp: 70 BPM
• Structure: Verse/Chorus/Verse/Chorus/Bridge/Chorus
• The title appears in the Chorus

VERSE 1
Wake up in the morning, get to living my life
Making sure that I'm all that I can be
Went to church on Sunday there was a moment that came
I swear it was like the Lord spoke right to me 

This verse sets up an interesting and somewhat unconventional rhyme scheme. It's a ABCB, where lines 1 and 3 don't rhyme.

The lyrics are kind of weak. The key point is this religious moment that happens at church, but it's unusually vague for country. How many songs begin with wake up in the morning? It's kind of a stock way to start up a song. The kind of lyrics you'd find in a first draft. So, the first two lines are kind of throw away; I expect better.

CHORUS
So now I'm slowing it down and I'm looking around
And I'm lovin' this town and I'm doing alright
Ain't worried 'bout nothing except for the man I wanna be
I'm thinking maybe it's time to be living the rhyme
When I'm singing a song about nothing but right
And it'd sure be nice if you would roll with me

This is a nice chorus about slowing down and being in the moment and making a decision to live life better. I still don't understand how the moment in church led to all this. If we'd learned in V1 that he'd been living a hectic, wild, and amoral life, maybe it would have more impact. Finally, the last line is "it'd sure be nice if you would roll with me" -- excuse me? Who is he talking to? The listener? Some person not named or referred to in the song? This is confusing. What's worse, this is the title hook. It seems very odd that throughout the song he uses "you" here.

There is great sectional contrast with the melody and pacing the lines. I think the melody is sensational. It's a great song to hear while driving along in the car and has a good positive feeling. Great for uplifting drive time. Too bad the lyrics aren't more cohesive.

The rhyme is cool. Internal rhyme in line 1 continues into line 2: down, around, down. Then line three breaks the melodic and rhyme pattern to give the ears something knew. Lines 4, 5 and 6 repeat the pattern: Time, rhyme, (song? uh, sort of), and then ends nicely with the word 'right' which ties up 'alright' from line 2. That said, a  critiquer would call you on rhyming 'alright' with 'right,' but it's far enough apart that I don't really notice it.

The the hook line ends with 'me' which ties completes the rhyme setup in line 3 with be. All in all, it's a rhyming tour-de-force!

VERSE 2
Saw a kid last winter only twenty years old
Being laid to rest while his mom stood by his side
Sure was hard to watch those tears roll down her face
Made me think how we all just have our time 

They don't say why the kid is dead, which is a nice ommission. It allows us to put our own story on it. I immediately thought he was a soldier killed in service to his country, but he could also have died of disease, accident, or drug over-dose. It works pretty well. The temptation must have been strong to say why he died, but I'm glad they didn't. NOTE: They gave in to temptation in the video. The 20 year old is dressed in fatiques with his pretty wife and brand new baby. Ah Nashville, I must never underestimate your addiction to obviousness, conventionality, and unsophistication. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

This verse does a better job setting up the chorus IMHO. There's a more complete story here that leads him to reflect on his own life.

The rhyme scheme of V1 is maintained with side/time in lines 2 and 4 rhyming closely.

CHORUS
So now I'm slowing it down and I'm looking around
And I'm lovin this town and I'm doing alright
Ain't worried 'bout nothing except for the man I wanna be
I'm thinking maybe it's time to be living the rhyme
When I'm singing a song about nothing but right
And it's sure be nice if you would roll with me

This chorus leads into a brief but cool guitar solo. Nicely adds to the sort of 70s-rock vibe of the whole song. I realize now that I don't really know what he means about the "living the rhyme." I understand it intuitively, but I can't explain it. Too bad, because country songs are typically very logically clear. On the other hand, since I do get it, I guess it works.

BRIDGE

Who knows whats up ahead
I think I'd rather not know instead

Well, you'd really like to see more in a bridge than this, but it works okay. The verses are giving us a view from 10 feet and this jumps us up to the 10,000 foot view of the song. It's a philisophical moment that contrasts with the chorus and verses.

CHORUS
So now I'm slowing it down and I'm looking around
And I'm lovin this town and I'm doing alright
Ain't worried 'bout nothing except for the man I wanna be
I'm thinking maybe it's time to be living the rhyme
When I'm singing a song about nothing but right
And it's sure be nice if you would roll with me

I've been fairly critical of this song, but my criticism is entirely with the lyrics -- that lack of cohesiveness.

I think the melody is really good in the chorus, it is really hooky. I feel like I've heard this song somewhere on a soft-rock station 30 years ago. I like it a lot.

Also, the rhyme scheme is interesting and especially effective in the chorus. It's a chorus you can really sing along with when those harmony vocals kick in. I congratulate MG for understanding their audience and recognizing a great melodic hook.

What do you think?