‘I Could Spend Forever Loving You’ by Thomas Rhett - Lyrics & Meaning

Thomas Rhett's 2024 studio album, About a Woman, is a 14-song love letter to his wife of over a decade, Lauren Akins, and ‘I Could Spend Forever Loving You’ - co-written by Rhett with Mark Holman and ERNEST - serves as a rousing finale.

It's a sweet, devoted ode to Lauren, with Thomas Rhett reprising his hugely successful role as a doting husband, reeling off a flurry of evocative imagery that highlights his adoration.

Throughout ‘I Could Spend Forever Loving You’, Rhett compiles all the greatest qualities of the many marriage-inspired ballads he's dropped over his stellar discography so far. There's the warm, cushioning guitar, the gently driving drum rhythm, the enchanting drawl and the unashamedly affectionate lyrics - this is TR at his best.

“Sittin’ on this porch right here

Right next to you year after year

We’ve watched our share of sunsets goin’ down

Yeah, there’s something’ on my mind today

Can’t find the fancy words to say

So, I’ll try the only way that I know how”

As Thomas Rhett sits on his favourite swinging seat on the front porch alongside Lauren, he muses about all the beautiful ruby-red sunsets they've enjoyed together from this spot. This evening, though, he's feeling more wistful than usual.

“Yeah, these old bones’ll turn to dust

And Chevrolets wind up rustin’

Time rolls on girl it ain’t nothing new

This old heart runs out of beats

Or the sun starts setting in the east

Girl, I could spend forever loving you”

During the hook, Thomas Rhett accepts that one day, he'll no longer be walking this earth, his beloved Chevrolet will rust up and time will keep on disappearing into the distance. But regardless of what life - and death - may bring, he'll love Lauren forever.

“Yeah, I was out there free to roam

You gave this old wild horse a home

The only plan I had was passin’ through

So, keep your pretty hand in mine

Our love will stand the test of time

Like good old wine and broke-in cowboy boots”

Thomas Rhett references the ‘wild side’ he had during his younger years, prior to falling in love with Lauren, something he also nods to on ‘Somethin’ ‘Bout a Woman’ when he croons, “Yeah, settling down just wasn’t for me / Wasn’t the type that would rush in”. On ‘I Could Spend Forever Loving You’, TR endearingly likens their eternal love to the way a good bottle of wine and well-worn boots just get better with age. The ‘broke-in cowboy boots’ line feels like a link back to track No. 12, ‘Boots’.

“I’ll be right here by your side

‘Til we’ve taken our last ride

Lord willin’ it’s a few more around the moon”

TR underlines that, although his mind has turned towards the day they breathe their last breaths, he hopes that - God willing - they've still got plenty more years together until then.

In a 2024 interview with Holler, ahead of releasing seventh project, the Georgia crooner revealed how his outlook when crafting About a Woman - including ‘I Could Spend Forever Loving You’ - was different compared to that of his previous two albums.

He explained, “When I think of this project, I keep thinking of the word ‘Freedom’. Not to dive super deep here, but...2019 was the last year that I felt that sort of freedom of just, ‘Man, whatever I'm feeling, I'm just gonna say, whatever feels good I'm just gonna write, whatever sounds good, that's what gonna go on the record’. I think COVID did a number on all of us, but for me, I think being so secluded and not being able to get that instant feedback from fans by constantly being on the road - I love playing new songs on the road to kind of feel, “Is this song vibing, is this song not vibing”. And so I made a couple of records that I'm for sure proud of, but I think those records were...‘Fear’ is not the right word either, but they were made from not a free place, if that makes any sense”.

Thomas Rhett touchingly expanded on how he made sure joy was at the heart of About a Woman, exemplified on the rose-tinted, lovestruck ‘I Could Spend Forever Loving You’, “So somewhere around the beginning of last year, I started having conversations with the guy who actually produced this whole next record, Julian Bunetta, who I've been friends with forever and he produced all the One Direction stuff, just recently produced the whole Sabrina Carpenter record, and produced the whole new Teddy Swims project, so he's had this big resurgence. He looked at me and was like, ’Man, it'd been six years I had a hit, and I just kept coming back and kept coming back and kept coming back, because I love it’. And he was like, ‘How much do you love this?’ That was a very pivotal question for me, because I was like, ‘Man, I love it more than most things in the world. Minus my family, music is what I live and breathe’. He was like, ‘Well, lets write from that part, rather than from the part of, ‘Well what if and what if and what if’”.

“Sittin’ on this porch right here

Right next to you year after year

We’ve watched our share of sunsets goin’ down

-

Yeah, there’s something’ on my mind today

Can’t find the fancy words to say

So, I’ll try the only way that I know how

-

Yeah, these old bones’ll turn to dust

And Chevrolets® wind up rustin’

Time rolls on girl it ain’t nothing new

This old heart runs out of beats

Or the sun starts setting in the east

Girl, I could spend forever loving you

-

Yeah, I was out there free to roam

You gave this old wild horse a home

The only plan I had was passin’ through

-

So, keep your pretty hand in mine

Our love will stand the test of time

Like good old wine and broke-in cowboy boots

-

Yeah, these old bones’ll turn to dust

And Chevrolets wind up rustin’

Time rolls on girl it ain’t nothing new

This old heart runs out of beats

Or the sun starts setting in the east

Girl, I could spend forever loving you

-

I’ll be right here by your side

‘Til we’ve taken our last ride

Lord willin’ it’s a few more around the moon

-

This old heart runs out of beats

I got you, and you got me

Baby, I could spend forever lovin’ you

-

I can’t wait to spend forever lovin’ you”

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