'20 Cigarettes' by Morgan Wallen - Lyrics and Meaning

Since 2021's release of Dangerous: The Double Album, Morgan Wallen has been on the fast track to country music superstardom.

Bolstered by 2023's standout record, One Thing At A Time, the Tennessee native has become the biggest name in the format, even infiltrating across genre lines and landing singles atop the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.

After a little over two years, the award-winning entertainer has finally arrived with a new batch of music in the form of his 37-track opus, I'm the Problem, arriving May 16 and sprawling with his next era of record-breaking hits and beloved fan-favorites.

‘20 Cigarettes’ tells the story of a hot night in Nashville, a short addition to the album but one that unfolds as the story’s characters make their way through "one hell of a night, one hell of a pack."

The album’s eleventh track is on the shorter side, coming in at just over two and half minutes, but the song still packs a punch.

With a smooth, sexy sound the track starts off relatively sparsely focusing on Wallen’s gritty voice and an electric guitar keeping him company.

Getting to the second verse, the sound picks up and so do Wallen’s vocals, his words tumbling out as a smooth bass line and percussion pick the pace up a little. That sultry bass really has a moment in a nice instrumental break towards the end of the song before we reach the bridge and the story comes to an end.

"20 cigarettes
And I lit me one
On that redwood deck
On Demonbreun
She was with her friends
Left ‘em standing there
There was more than smoke
In that summer air"

Kicking off by throwing us right into the story, the narrator has got 20 cigarettes and a Nashville night ahead of him.

He’s hanging out on Demonbreun, an area of Nashville close to Music Row and the entertainment epicentre of Music City, and meeting a whole lot of people, one girl catches his eye though.

The night really begins as the two get talking, light a cigarette and find somewhere just a little quieter. "More than smoke in that summer air", maybe a few sparks too?

"We burned two while she told me ‘bout her hometown
She was drinking Tito’s said I better slow down
I was like hell nah
I ain’t drinking by myself nah
Said she loved my accent so I kept talking
Reached for the pack on the table by my wallet
We tore off to light the night we had left"

Two more cigarettes down, the pair are talking, drinking, smoking and not-so-subtly flirting.

From the sounds of things, this story’s protagonist has that strong drawl of a Tennessee country-boy accent and this new girl loves it – maybe she’s not from the country, maybe she’s in Nashville for a couple nights and 20 cigarettes?

As time goes on, they’re looking to "light the night they have left".

"With 13 cigarettes
And I lit me one
With the windows cracked
In my old half ton
Singing take me home
On them country roads
So I turned off on one
Then next thing you know"

We’re down to 13 cigarettes left now and the pair have taken off from Demonbreun in this country boy’s truck and are headed out of the city.

An unusual choice for a hot Nashville night, but maybe he’s really playing into that country persona as John Denver’s country classic ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ is playing on the truck’s radio. It’s not looking like they’re going home, though, instead turning off on a dirt road and, well…

"We had a beer bottle looking like an ashtray
Under that full moon she was ‘bout halfway
Naked in my truck bed
So I helped her with the rest
She was saying my name
Barely even knew it
We were both lying
Said we never do this
To the music of the wind through the woods

It was probably somewhere around two
In the morning by the time we got down to"

Things are getting hot and heavy in Nashville, with a "beer bottle looking like an ashtray", those 20 cigarettes are running pretty low, but this night’s still going.

"We never do this" the pair say, but the two of them know they’re both lying to each other as things get steamy in that truck bed. It’s a night in Nashville after all and those lies don’t seem to be causing any problems.

Probably somewhere around two in the morning, the night’s escaped them both – any cigarettes left?

"That lucky cigarette
Laying on our backs
We were out of breath
We both took a drag
Blew it in the sky
She was gone like that
One hell of a night
One hell of a pack"

One left,. The night might have come to an end, but they’re still in that truck bed and it sure was a "lucky cigarette".

Yet, as the narrator says "she was gone like that", those earlier lies have pretty evidently become truths; neither one of this pair are sticking around after "one hell of a night".

Based on just how step-by-step (or cigarette-by-cigarette) this night was, it’s probably not going to be long before he’s onto the next pack.

As is often the case of late, the ‘Thought You Should Know’ singer-songwriter has so far remained tight-lipped on how the song came about.

However, when revealing the release date for I'm the Problem, Wallen provided fans with an insight into the theme of introspection that courses through the project as a whole.

“I have been a problem, for sure, and I've got no problem admitting that. But there are other sides to me as well," he explained. "I've spent the last 11 months really trying to figure out, 'Do I still want to be the problem? Is it time to move past that phase in my life? I think it probably is, and this might be the last time I get a chance to honestly say it.”

20 cigarettes
And I lit me one
On that redwood deck
On Demonbreun
She was with her friends
Left ‘em standing there
There was more than smoke
In that summer air

We burned two while she told me ‘bout her hometown
She was drinking Tito’s said I better slow down
I was like hell nah
I ain’t drinking by myself nah
Said she loved my accent so I kept talking
Reached for the pack on the table by my wallet
We tore off to light the night we had left

With 13 cigarettes
And I lit me one
With the windows cracked
In my old half ton
Singing take me home
On them country roads
So I turned off on one
Then next thing you know

We had a beer bottle looking like an ashtray
Under that full moon she was ‘bout halfway
Naked in my truck bed
So I helped her with the rest
She was saying my name
Barely even knew it
We were both lying
Said we never do this
To the music of the wind through the woods

It was probably somewhere around two
In the morning by the time we got down to

That lucky cigarette
Laying on our backs
We were out of breath
We both took a drag
Blew it in the sky
She was gone like that
One hell of a night
One hell of a pack

--

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