'Goodnight Music City' by Old Dominion – Lyrics & Meaning

Barbara has arrived, and with Old Dominion's latest album, so has the band's bright and shiny ode to Nashville.

'Goodnight Music City' is all bar stools and tip jars, struggle and success, the tune perfectly encapsulating the "ten-year town" that has shaped this beloved five-piece.

While Barbara, as a whole, has been described as Old Dominion's "most personal record ever", it's 'Goodnight Music City' that captures the band and their journey best of all.

'Goodnight Music City' is washed in a mixture of many of Nashville's sounds, the composition itself a journey down Broadway. Honky tonk keys, a bright zydeco squeeze box, stalwart country strings and a steady blues beat – it all comes to life on this weightless love letter to the place that raised Old Dominion.

"Well roll, roll Cumberland nice and slow
Wash the broken dreams downstream ‘til tomorrow
Neon buzzin’ for the new kid in town
Brand new jeans and the same ol’ same sound
Ghosts in the jukebox rolling over in their graves
Three part Second Avenue serenade"

At the start, 'Goodnight Music City' traces the Cumberland River that slices Nashville, following is dark waters down to Broadway where the neon buzzes and country-tinged dreams seem just in reach.

The song, in its entirety, is a charming ode to Music City, USA, to all of it's promises and possibilities, but it is also a tale of hard work, disappointment and the true accomplishments that come not from "making it" but from putting in the hours to get where you want to be.

"Goodnight Broadway
Goodnight boots
Goodnight six string honky tonk grooves
Turn the stools over, give the floor a sweep
And rock yourself to sleep
Singing goodnight tip jar troubadours
Spitting the truth with the same three chords
Hang up your rhinestones
And finish your whiskey
And goodnight Music City"

Nashville is known as a "ten-year town". While sometimes it may appear that way, success isn't something that happens overnight in a place like this.

In the song, the group don't sing of the Grand Ole Opry stage, big fat record deals or rhinestoned fame. They croon about honky tonks, tip jars, living off of bologna sandwiches and cheap beer. It's not always glamorous, but that's the reality that comes with paying your dues in Nashville.

Like in the song, if you're "Trying to cut corners in a ten-year town", all you're likely to come away with is "fifteen minutes on a country merry-go-round" instead of the enduring careers of those who came before.

The song takes listeners through the ups and downs, the highs and lows, the trials and triumphs, all to chronicle the hard days' work that comes with country aspirations. After you've played the bars, heard the last calls and knocked off your boots, it's time to say "goodnight" to Music City and prepare for another day.

"Goodnight Broadway
Goodnight boots
Goodnight six string honky tonk grooves
Turn the stools over, give the floor a sweep
And rock yourself to sleep
Singing goodnight tip jar troubadours
Spitting the truth with the same three chords
Hang up your rhinestones
And finish your whiskey"

"...And goodnight Music City"

Well roll, roll Cumberland nice and slow
Wash the broken dreams downstream ‘til tomorrow
Neon buzzin’ for the new kid in town
Brand new jeans and the same ol’ same sound
Ghosts in the jukebox rolling over in their graves
Three part Second Avenue serenade

Goodnight Broadway
Goodnight boots
Goodnight six string honky tonk grooves
Turn the stools over, give the floor a sweep
And rock yourself to sleep
Singing goodnight tip jar troubadours
Spitting the truth with the same three chords
Hang up your rhinestones
And finish your whiskey
And goodnight Music City

Trying to cut corners in a ten-year town
Get your fifteen minutes on a country merry-go-round
Fried bologna sandwich and a PBR
There’s tears in the beers and steel in the guitar
The old Mother Church has heard every last call prayer
Go to bed wishing and wake up a millionaire

Goodnight Broadway
Goodnight boots
Goodnight six string honky tonk grooves
Turn the stools over, give the floor a sweep
And rock yourself to sleep
Singing goodnight tip jar troubadours
Spitting the truth with the same three chords
Hang up your rhinestones
And finish your whiskey
And goodnight Music City

Ghosts in the jukebox rolling over in their graves
Angels and the pickers and the bluebirds all say

Goodnight Broadway
Goodnight boots
Goodnight six string honky tonk grooves
Turn the stools over, give the floor a sweep
And rock yourself to sleep
Singing goodnight tip jar troubadours
Spitting the truth with the same three chords
Hang up your rhinestones
And finish your whiskey

And goodnight Music City
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Goodnight Music City
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Goodnight Music City

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