‘Torn’ by Riley Green – Lyrics & Meaning

After a blowout year in 2023, the stage was set to see what Riley Green had up his sleeve in 2024. Almost a year to the day of the release of his lauded Ain't My Last Rodeo record, his newest project, Don't Mind If I Do, shares its release day with its creators birthday.

Tallying 18 tracks from one of the buzziest artists in country music, the Alabama native offers a mix of tunes we've already heard and newly minted hits-in-the-making that all celebrate Green's southern way of life and his pride in the power of country music, as well as a sensual moment or two along the way.

Towards the tail end of Don't Mind If I Do, fans will find an angsty offering titled 'Torn.' As Green grapples with falling for a new flame, he weights out the costs of what he'll have to give up with the love that he may gain.

On its face, 'Torn' sounds like its straight out of the 2000s country playbook, almost coming off as a tune that Gary Allan or Jason Aldean may have sang two decades ago or so.

Ironically enough, Aldean's longtime producer Michael Knox had his hands on the sound of 'Torn,' which takes the shape of a slow-rolling country rock anthem that clocks in at just shy of three and a half minutes. A rare outside cut from Green, the sensual offering sees artist Drake Milligan co-writing alongside Randy Montana and John Pierce.

While an acoustic guitar takes the limelight, picking along to the heavy, rock-laden melody, a kick drum quickly comes in to provide some extra oomph. With the arrival of the chorus comes a little more instrumentation before the full band explodes together before veering off into the second verse.

"She’s got me wound tighter than a barbed wire fence line
Strung out staying up ‘til the sunrise
Flying higher than a 747 in the jet stream
Heart wrecked like a Daytona backstretch
Strung up like a shirt in a briar patch
Twisted, ripped like I can’t believe
That girl’s got me"

Our narrator opens up by explaining all of the effects his new flame is having on him, keeping him wound of tight (we won't be explaining this point further), preventing him from sleeping, making him feel high, etc.

It's a mix of positive and negative emotions, encompassing both feelings of ecstasy and heartbreak as he notes that he feels twisted up and pulled in different directions.

"Torn like her favorite pair of blue jeans
Torn up six ways to Sunday
Lord help me she’s got me
Torn ‘tween living young and paintin’ the town
And white picket fence post settlin’ down
Stuck between wild and free and a rock on a ring
She’s got me
Torn"

Underlining this feeling of being torn between feelings, as the song title suggests, he compares the feeling to her ripped up jeans for a visual.

As we get to the crux of his problem, we find that our narrator can't quite decide if he's ready to fully commit to this girl.

On one hand, he can continue to sow his wild oats and live a life free from answering to anyone. On the other, though, brings the picture-perfect white picket fence and getting down on one knee as he chooses to settle down and start a life with another person.

"It all started two steppin’ at the Blue Light
Red lips and a flame there in her eyes
Cut through me like a thousand acre wildfire
And ever since that night I’ve been"

Taking us back to the beginning, our protagonist reminisces on how they met at a local bar.

Smitten with her from the very start, he's been trying to figure out what to do and how to play this situation since that first night.

"Torn like her favorite pair of blue jeans
Torn up six ways to Sunday
Lord help me she’s got me
Torn ‘tween living young and paintin’ the town
And white picket fence post settlin’ down
Stuck between wild and free and a rock on a ring
She’s got me
Torn"

During an album listening event for Don't Mind If I Do, Riley Green offered a summation of what ‘Torn’ means to him, “‘Torn’ is definitely a song that I can relate to in real life. When I first heard it, Randy [Montana] sang on the demo. It's one of those things where he has so many hits because he's such a great songwriter, but he also has a real gift as a singer. I think that when you hear something that sounds good, you just want to be a part of it. That's how this song was for me”.

“She’s got me wound tighter than a barbed wire fence line
Strung out staying up ‘til the sunrise
Flying higher than a 747 in the jet stream
Heart wrecked like a Daytona backstretch
Strung up like a shirt in a briar patch
Twisted, ripped like I can’t believe
That girl’s got me

Torn like her favorite pair of blue jeans
Torn up six ways to Sunday
Lord help me she’s got me
Torn ‘tween living young and paintin’ the town
And white picket fence post settlin’ down
Stuck between wild and free and a rock on a ring
She’s got me
Torn

It all started two steppin’ at the Blue Light
Red lips and a flame there in her eyes
Cut through me like a thousand acre wildfire
And ever since that night I’ve been

Torn like her favorite pair of blue jeans
Torn up six ways to Sunday
Lord help me she’s got me
Torn ‘tween living young and paintin’ the town
And white picket fence post settlin’ down
Stuck between wild and free and a rock on a ring
She’s got me
Torn

Torn like her favorite pair of blue jeans
Torn up six ways to Sunday
Lord help me she’s got me
Torn ‘tween living young and paintin’ the town
And white picket fence post settlin’ down
Stuck between wild and free and a rock on a ring
She’s got me
Torn

Yeah, she’s got me
Torn ‘tween living young and paintin’ the town
And white picket fence post settlin’ down
Stuck between wild and free and a rock on a ring
She’s got me
Torn
Yeah, she’s got me”

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For more on Riley Green, see below: