Hot on the heels of announcing his third major-label album, The Day I Hang It Up, Gavin Adcock treated fans to the title-track from the keenly anticipated new project.

It finds him underlining that, regardless of what his naysayers might think, the ‘Last One to Know’ singer-songwriter will never call it quits - not on his music career, nor his 100mph approach to life. It's a fiery battle-cry that kicks off the album with a bang.

Adcock mirrors the fierce, impassioned nature of the narrative with a raging sea of electric guitars and a driving drum pattern. The Georgia native's charismatic, commanding vocals cut through the rowdy instrumental, injecting Adcock's trademark sense of swagger into the song. This one feels tailor-made for his live show.

Throughout ‘The Day I Hang It Up’, our narrator stresses that he has no plans to give up any of his wild habits and his penchant for life out on the road. He makes it clear from the outset that the day he relinquishes all of this will be the day he's six feet under.

Although the song broadly refers to the protagonist's determination to keep going with his blossoming music career in spite of his critics and the turmoil he's experience in recent months, there are also lyrical references to not giving up his lifestyle.

It seems our narrator here sees all the heavy drinking, hard partying and complicated love-life as coming hand-in-hand with the touring life, and he feels as though he can't have one without the other. It feels like the key verse is the second, when Adcock defiantly croons, “Some people say I've got a cheap thrill addiction / And throw stones at my free bird livin' / I brush 'em off like the habits I ain't kickin' 'cause / I know myself too well”. It's worth flagging that, while the general message of not wanting to give up on his dreams does seem to apply to Adcock's own life, we shouldn't assume the rest of this narrative is autobiographical, especially given the ‘Never Call Again’ hitmaker isn't listed as a writer on it. There's also a satisfying callback to his recent collaboration with Hudson Westbrook, ‘Cheap Thrills’, in this verse, tying in with the overall fabric of the album.

In the social media post announcing the new song and album, Adcock explains the inspiration behind this next chapter, “This last 5 years have been the wildest time of my life. I’ve been through nearly everything a person could imagine writing songs and living on a damn tour bus. Through all of that I’ve stood up to my darkest demons, laughed in the face of adversity, and kept the pedal down letting out music for my fans. Some artist come in, make a couple records and disappear for the rest of their life. For me? Imma be doing this shit till the day I die. I wanna thank every single one of y’all for rockin with me on this wild ride”.

“I'm like a magnet to some high proof liquor
A song chaser and a pipe dream picker
A short fuse that's got a hairline trigger
That's put me through some hell
-
Some people say I've got a cheap thrill addiction
And throw stones at my free bird livin'
I brush 'em off like the habits I ain't kickin' 'cause
I know myself too well
-
The day I hang it up is the day I'm ridin' out
Flying high above what put me in the ground
I got it in my blood, too late to change it now
The day I hang it up is the day they lay me down
-
I don't mind a little smoke on my jacket
Pretty girl with some underlying baggage
I'm hard-headed with a heart that'll back it, yeah
Just like this cross on my neck
-
The day I hang it up is the day I'm ridin' out
Flying high above what put me in the ground
I got it in my blood, too late to change it now
The day I hang it up is the day they lay me down
-
That's the price I'll pay, and I'll take it to the bank
Till I take it to the grave and it's said and done
Everything I believe, these songs, this dream
That rebel in me can't get enough
-
The day I hang it up is the day I'm ridin' out
Flying high above, put me in the ground
I got it in my blood, too late to change it now
The day I hang it up is the day they lay me down
-
And then they'll lay me down”

Gavin Adcock

Artist