‘Take Her Home’ by Kenny Chesney - Lyrics & Meaning

On November 9th 2023, Kenny Chesney surprised his loyal No Shoes Nation fanbase by announcing his first solo Country Radio single since 2020's lauded record, Here and Now.

The endearing, rose-tinted track finds Kenny reprising the narrative role he carries out so evocatively on his classic ballad, ‘There Goes My Life’, with the ‘Just To Say We Did’ singer-songwriter crooning wistfully as he details a charming love story. The official music video for ‘Take Her Home’, which arrived on January 19th, 2024, brings this tale to life, with the key moments in the couple's relationship interwoven with shots of Kenny Chesney performing the song from a cosy bar.

Penned by Hunter Phelps, HARDY and Zach Abend with Kenny Chesney in mind, HARDY texted Kenny asking if he'd be happy to take a quick listen to the soulful offering.

Now, the song has blossomed into the lead single from Kenny's hotly anticipated 2024 album, BORN, with ’Take Her Home’ en route to becoming his 33rd No. 1 hit.

The magic of ‘Take Her Home’ lies in the narrative and the sincerity of Kenny Chesney's delivery, which means Kenny and his longtime co-producer, Buddy Cannon, can afford to keep the composition relatively stripped-back and subtle.

‘Take Her Home’ coasts gently along an undulating guitar riff and an emphatic but understated drum pattern, with the track building in intensity as it reaches its crescendo in the second hook. For the heartwarming final instalment in the narrative, when the baby is born, the instrumental is drawn in to leave Kenny performing the verse virtually a cappella, before the guitars and drums are reintroduced for the rousing finale. During this last segment, you can hear HARDY's backing vocals injecting an additional sense of gravity to the enchanting song.

“Downtown looks like it’s New Year’s Eve

You find some bar you can halfway breathe

TouchTunes some old deep cut Cheap Trick

Catch a girl singing every word of it

So you bring a couple shots of chilled Patron

To the prettiest thing that you’ve ever hit on

And somehow she ain’t got a boyfriend

So you make her laugh all night and then”

Kenny opens the song by setting the scene of a rowdy, packed-out evening in Nashville, with the protagonist slipping into a particularly bustling bar and deciding to queue up a B-side from ‘70s rock band, Cheap Trick, on the TouchTunes jukebox.

Seeing as he's chosen to play a ‘deep cut’ that most people wouldn't know, this makes it all the more meaningful when he notices a girl singing it word for word. Naturally, he buys her a drink and - to his surprise, given how beautiful she is - the girl is single, and the two hit it off immediately, laughing away the night together.

“Take her home

Fall in love

Thank the good Lord up above

That He sent one down

Into your arms

Put a chain around your raise hell heart

You try to play it cool walking through the door

But you’re smiling like a fool ‘cause you can’t wait for them

Down the road memories you’re bound to make

And you will one day

Take her home”

During the first iteration of the sinuous chorus, Kenny Chesney describes how the guy in the story takes the girl home, before expressing his gratitude to God for blessing him with this chance meeting. Kenny mentions how she acts as the antidote to the lead character's tempestuous nature, underlining that the two are the perfect match.

He paints the picture of the guy showing the girl his place for the first time, as he tries to contain his excitement at the prospect of potentially spending the rest of his life with her.

Kenny hints that they'll get married down the road, concluding the chorus with ‘And you will one day / Take her home’. This could also be interpreted as the protagonist still talking to God, suggesting that when her time on earth has reached its end, He'll ‘take her home’ to Heaven, in turn implying she must be an angel.

“Gassed up truck sitting in the driveway

In the back there’s a black and a pink suitcase

She can’t stop saying she’s freaking out

You say, ‘Baby, you ain’t got nothing to worry about’

Then you hold her hand

Kiss her one time

And throw it in drive”

The music video highlights that we've now fast-forwarded to the moment the couple tie the knot, with the two jumping into a pick-up truck with ‘Just Married’ scrawled across the rear windshield and each of their suitcases stowed in the back.

She experiences some last-minute nerves, but the protagonist eases her mind as he drives her to their new marital house - giving the titular phrase, ‘Take Her Home’, a new meaning.

“Sometimes God draws life like a dream

Paints you a 7 pound 5 ounce scene

In a car seat creeping down the interstate

Two young lovers that are scared to death

But still can’t wait”

The emotional sucker punch comes in the final verse, with Kenny Chesney showcasing his trademark joi de vivre by outlining how, sometimes, everything works out perfectly. He depicts this sense of destiny as God composing the painting of our life ‘like a dream’, specifically referring here to the introduction of a ‘7 pound 5 ounce’ baby into the family we've been following throughout ‘Take Her Home’.

As Kenny does so pertinently throughout his discography, he doesn't shy away from how there are doubts and anxieties that accompany the big milestones of our lives, but that we can choose to stare these fears in the eyes and jump right in regardless.

“To take her home

Fall in love

Thank the good Lord up above

That He sent one down

Into your arms

Put a chain around your raise hell heart

Try to play it cool walking through the door

But you’re smiling like a fool ‘cause you can’t wait for them

Down the road memories you’re bound to make

And you will one day

Take her home

Take her home”

Although lyrically the same, the last chorus is given an entirely new ambience from the fact that ‘Take Her Home’ is now referring to the couple's baby daughter.

He portrays the child as having once again cooled his fiery nature, as well as making him excited all over again for the memories ahead as he walks through the door with her in his arms.

Ahead of its release, Kenny emphasised how ‘Take Her Home’ resonated with him, “When I heard ‘Take Her Home’, I just laughed. It was everything life is made of in less than four minutes. It’s true, honest and all the stuff that’s easy to forget. All those details and little moments? The deep cut Cheap Trick, the black-and-pink suitcase in the back of the truck, a 7 pound, 5 ounce baby? That’s what makes these kinds of life changes what they are. And it’s funny: no matter what stage you’re in, you really are always scared. That’s how you know it’s gonna be worth it”.

He went on to stress how ‘Take Her Home’ captures the universally accessible optimism he's become synonymous with over the years, “It’s amazing how simple figuring life out can be. I look around, and I see people in every state of this song every day. It’s part of the miracle of being alive. Even when it’s not happening to you, it’s happening to someone you love – whether your friend, a brother or sister, co-worker – and that feeling comes right back. I can’t wait to hear people singing this one back to us, because it’s going to be one of those moments. I just know”.

“Downtown looks like it’s New Year’s Eve

You find some bar you can halfway breathe

TouchTunes some old deep cut Cheap Trick

Catch a girl singing every word of it

So you bring a couple shots of chilled Patron

To the prettiest thing that you’ve ever hit on

And somehow she ain’t got a boyfriend

So you make her laugh all night and then

Take her home

Fall in love

Thank the good Lord up above

That He sent one down

Into your arms

Put a chain around your raise hell heart

You try to play it cool walking through the door

But you’re smiling like a fool ‘cause you can’t wait for them

Down the road memories you’re bound to make

And you will one day

Take her home

Gassed up truck sitting in the driveway

In the back there’s a black and a pink suitcase

She can’t stop saying she’s freaking out

You say, ‘Baby, you ain’t got nothing to worry about’

Then you hold her hand

Kiss her one time

And throw it in drive

And take her home

They fall in love

Thank the good Lord up above

That He sent one down

Into your arms

Put a chain around your raise hell heart

Try to play it cool walking through the door

But you’re smiling like a fool ‘cause you can’t wait for them

Down the road memories you’re bound to make

And you will one day

Take her home

Take her home

Sometimes God draws life like a dream

Paints you a 7 pound 5 ounce scene

In a car seat creeping down the interstate

Two young lovers that are scared to death

But still can’t wait

To take her home

Fall in love

Thank the good Lord up above

That He sent one down

Into your arms

Put a chain around your raise hell heart

Try to play it cool walking through the door

But you’re smiling like a fool ‘cause you can’t wait for them

Down the road memories you’re bound to make

And you will one day

Take her home

Take her home”

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