'Need To' by Gavin Adcock – Lyrics & Meaning

Two months into 2025 and it's obvious country's newest hitmaker Gavin Adcock has come into the New Year swinging.

He may be fresh off the success of his 2024 debut album, Actin’ Up Again, but the 'Four Leaf Clover' artist hasn't slowed down a bit, already unveiling months-worth of show dates and festival appearances, as well as keeping his fans in some of the finest new music.

His latest single comes in the form of 'Need To', a prowling new number steeped in some pretty solid advice.

Despite the sagacity it contains, 'Need To' has a fair amount of pluck. The swaggering tune arrives carried on slinky atmospherics produced by the pull of ambient strings and the shudder of scattered rhythms. The stalking groove is all at once chilling and enticing, as intoxicating as the words to which it creeps along.

"I pulled up a chair in mama's kitchen
Poured out my heart while my head was spinning
Just like it did when I was young
When she shot me straight from the gospel gun"

'Need To' is ultimately a song about the kind of wisdom you can only find at the bottom of a bottle.

At the beginning of the song, we find Adcock in the middle of a predicament and seeking out some motherly advice. While his mom has always seemed to set him on the straight and narrow with a word or two from the Good Book, the only advice she has to give him for this particular trouble comes by way of a little nip of alcohol and a toke from her stash.

He sings: "This time she kinda caught me off guard / When she grabbed that stash and a mason jar / Told me something I ain’t ever heard without even saying a word." Her actions catch him by surprise, but in sitting him down for a little liquid clarity, she inadvertently gives him something to live by.

"Sometimes you need to, let it all go
Hold what you got in your hand
Sometimes you need to, go with the flow
From a bottle or a glass or a can
Yeah sometimes you need to wash down
The weight of the world and watch it drown
Sometimes just one drink won't do
Sometimes you need two"

He sings that sometimes the only solution is to simply let it be. You can't change what isn't in your control, but you can save your sanity by just deciding to go with the flow.

Later in the song, he mentions a girl and second chances, hinting that the initial predicament likely spurred from being unlucky in love. He sings, "Wish I had another chance with girl I knew / But the one she gave me was the one I blew / Guess sometimes you need two."

To fail, to crash and burn, is to live and learn. It's easy to dwell on a life's-worth of mistakes and missteps, but sometimes all you can do is...

"Sometimes you need to, let it all go
Hold what you got in your hand
Sometimes you need to, go with the flow
From a bottle or a glass or a can
Yeah sometimes you need to wash down
The weight of the world and watch it drown
Sometimes just one drink won't do
Sometimes you need two"

I pulled up a chair in mama's kitchen
Poured out my heart while my head was spinning
Just like it did when I was young
When she shot me straight from the gospel gun

This time she kinda caught me off guard
When she grabbed that stash and a mason jar
Told me something I ain’t ever heard without even saying a word

Sometimes you need to, let it all go
Hold what you got in your hand
Sometimes you need to, go with the flow from a bottle or a glass or a can
Yeah sometimes you need to wash down the weight of the world and watch it drown
Sometimes just one drink won't do
Sometimes you need two

Got a pocket full of crash a wallet full of burn,
A heart full of living and my head won't learn
Wish I had another chance with girl I knew,
But the one she gave me was the one I blew
Guess sometimes you need two

Sometimes you need to, let it all go
Hold what you got in your hand
Sometimes you need to, go with the flow from a bottle or a glass or a can
Yeah sometimes you need to wash down the weight of the world and watch it drown
Sometimes just one drink won't do
Sometimes you need two

Sometimes you may not like the way things in your life have gone to, and you may not want to

But sometimes you need to
Let it all go, hold what you got in your hand
Sometimes you need to, go with the flow from a bottle or a glass or a can
Yeah sometimes you need to wash down the weight of the world and watch it drown
Sometimes just one drink won't do
Sometimes you need two

Yeah sometimes just one drink won’t do
Sometimes you need two

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For more on Gavin Adcock, see below: