'The F Word' by Ashley Cooke - Lyrics & Meaning

Known for monster pop country hits like 'your place' and 'never til now,' Ashley Cooke followed up her Joe Jonas collaboration, 'All I Forgot' with the cheekily titled 'the f word.'

Written by Emily Weisband, Gordie Sampson and Lori McKenna, the song's clever play on words was teased on Ashley Cooke's socials in the lead up to the single's release on 18 April 2025.

She surprise announced the release date for 'the f word' on stage at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Saturday 12 April where she was opening for Kane Brown.

"I have a secret for you Bridgestone," she told the packed crowd. "One that I've been hanging on to for a minute now."

"Do you wanna hear a secret?" she asked the crowd, before repeating it to even louder applause, and turning to her drummer. "I said, 'Do you wanna hear a secret?' Drum roll please, Andrew. I have a brand new song called 'the f word,' coming out next Friday April 18th."

'the f word' is a gently paced power ballad that slowly builds throughout the song, beginning with the swells of a soft synthesizer pad and adding a delicately picked electric guitar before the drums come in for the chorus.

It's typical of Ashley Cooke's modern pop country sound and utilises production similar to that heard on recent albums from artists like Kelsea Ballerini, Ingrid Andress and Alana Springsteen.

The song title is neither a reference to the popular transatlantic cooking series hosted by chef Gordon Ramsey or the 2013 romantic comedy starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan and Adam Driver.

To begin with the song suggests that the "F" word in the title is the popular euphemism for the expletive "fuck"; often used when it is inappropriate to verbalise the whole word.

I try not to swear

It’s not lady-like

But I swear that I love you

I made up my mind

So I get kinda careless sometimes

When your eyes are lookin’ in mine

I guess that’s why I didn’t think before I spoke

Yeah I should wash my mouth out with soap

The lyrics imply that Ashley Cooke is someone who tries not to use profane language, but that sometimes her emotions get the better of her and she has been known to swear.

The reference to washing her "mouth out with soap" refers to a disciplinary practice that used to take place in schools where soap or a similar cleaning agent was placed in a child's mouth as a symbolic cleansing and punishment for misbehavior.

It was most often used as a response to profanity, lying, biting, tobacco use or verbal disrespect, but in recent years has become less commonplace, and there have been a number of cases of arrests, charges and civil lawsuits arising from the practice.

In the United States, the law surrounding "washing out the mouth with soap" varies between individual states.

‘Cause I said the F word in front of your momma

The first time I met her, not tryna’ start drama

Just kinda slipped out, like what the hell did I just do

I said I’d probably spend forever with you

In the song's first chorus, the song leads the listener to believe that the protagonist has cursed in front of her partner's mother the first time she meets her, much to their embarrassment, but the "F" word in the song is dramatically revealed cleverly at the end of the first chorus to be "forever."

And I don’t talk like that, at least not in public

Since you’re in my bed baby I’m not above it

They say you make plans and God laughs

But I’m never takin’ it back oh

Once she is back in bed with her partner, she recounts the story to them and tells them that she does not regret what she said.

I said the F word in front of your sister

Blame it on the fact that I don’t have a filter

Just kinda slipped out, like what the hell did I just do

I said I’d probably spend forever with you, yeah

In the next chorus she makes the same slip of the tongue, but this time in front of her partner's sister.

‘Cause I said the F word, no I’m not sorry

Four in the morning, you touching my body

Felt it, I meant it

I don’t regret it, it’s true

The lyrics take a suggestively sexier turn in the bridge when Ashley Cooke sings about her partner "touching" her body, again inducing her to pledge herself to him for eternity.

Using curse words or profanity during sexual intercourse can be a way to communicate excitement to a partner particularly during climax or orgasm. For some individuals, the use of expletives can enhance the sensual experience and add a playful or suggestive "naughty" element.

If Ashley Cooke is prone to get "kinda careless sometimes" about her language when she is with partner, as she sings in the second verse, then it wouldn't be unusual for her to curse during sexual intercourse.

It's completely natural and something that some people do and enjoy but should never be done without prior consent.

All in all, despite its suggestively explicit title, the song is actually a cutesy country pop ballad about someone opening up and oversharing in front of her partner's family, in this case her boyfriend's mother and sister.

"This song takes me back to the first time I met a guys mom and accidentally word vomited that we’d get married 🫠 it’s for the fall fasters, the lovers, the hopeless romantics.. and it’s now all yours," Ashley Cooke wrote in a post on her socials.

I try not to swear

It’s not lady-like

But I swear that I love you

I made up my mind

So I get kinda careless sometimes

When your eyes are lookin’ in mine

I guess that’s why I didn’t think before I spoke

Yeah I should wash my mouth out with soap

‘Cause I said the F word in front of your momma

The first time I met her, not tryna’ start drama

Just kinda slipped out, like what the hell did I just do

I said I’d probably spend forever with you

And I don’t talk like that, at least not in public

Since you’re in my bed baby I’m not above it

They say you make plans and God laughs

But I’m never takin’ it back oh

I said the F word in front of your sister

Blame it on the fact that I don’t have a filter

Just kinda slipped out, like what the hell did I just do

I said I’d probably spend forever with you, yeah

Oooh, oh yeah

I should know better but I don’t

Oh I should wash my mouth out with soap

‘Cause I said the F word, no I’m not sorry

Four in the morning, you touchin’ my body

Felt it, I meant it

I don’t regret it, it’s true

Oh I said the F word in front of your momma

The first time I met her, not tryna’ start drama

Just kinda slipped out, like what the hell did I just do

I said I’d probably spend forever with you

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