'Wish I Never Felt' by Nate Smith – Lyrics & Meaning

Nate Smith has been on quite the rocket ship since releasing his debut single, 'Whiskey On You,' in May of 2022. Finding its way to the top of the country radio charts for two consecutive weeks, it became the first debut offering to achieve this feat since 2019.

Smith's banner year didn't stop there, though, as his follow-up single, 'World On Fire,' smoldered atop the Billboard Country Airplay chart for an astounding eight consecutive weeks, tying Morgan Wallen’s 'Last Night,' Alan Jackson & Jimmy Buffett’s 'It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere' and Lonestar’s 'Amazed' for the second-longest No. 1 chart reign since the chart began in 1990.

With his third career single, 'Bulletproof,' surging to the upper echelons of country radio and its accompanying charts, all signs are pointing to Smith's next fan-favorite, 'Wish I Never Felt.' Included on his 2024 project, Through the Smoke, what will surely be his fourth No. 1 delves into the aftermath of heartbreak and has been resonating with country fans around the world in a big way.

An outside cut from Smith, 'Wish I Never Felt' was penned by a few familiar faces in the country scene, including Allison Veltz Cruz, Michael Tyler and Thomas Archer, as well as Lalo Guzman, who also serves as the track's producer.

With a click track running throughout the three-minute-and-change tune, it's a simple song lacking much organic instrumentation. Because of this, 'Wish I Never Felt' offers a unique song structure that keeps the same pace across its entirety (i.e. where other songs usually speed up in the chorus' to build up momentum, Smith keeps things consistently paced from the first notes to the last).

As ever, Smith's gravelly growl rings out with minimal production clogging up the space around him. However, his vocal range stays mostly contained throughout.

"Damn, rock bottom hits different this time
I've never felt it falling from cloud nine
They say the crash is always worth the high
But I'm losing my mind
I'm closing my eyes at night, but I ain't sleeping
The forever I saw I can't unsee it"

We find Smith amidst the rubble and shrapnel that follows in the wake of heartbreak. While it isn't the first time he's had his heart broken and been left feeling like he's at rock bottom, he explains that this time it feels different as he couldn't have been more in love than he was when it all ended.

While he notes that others often say "the crash is always worth the high," he can't say the same for himself in this case as he doesn't know if he's ever felt this crazy and empty following the end of a relationship. Unable to sleep or shake these thoughts of her, Smith is left with the image of the happily ever after that he had dreamed up for them in his mind.

"I wish I never went down to that bar
I wish I never walked you back to your car
Yeah, I should've kept my heart to myself
'Cause girl I've spend too many days
Feeling things I wish I never felt
Girl, you were somethin' else
I didn't know an angel knew how to drag you through hell
I drank you from the bottle, should've left it on the shelf
It turns out whiskey ain't Novocain
I'm feeling things I wish I never felt"

As we get to the chorus, we find Smith retracing his steps through the origins of their now dismantled relationship and wishing he could go back and do it all differently.

Seething with regret, he explains how if he could, he'd go back and keep his heart and his feelings to himself. Now knowing that it would all end in heartbreak, he would do anything to not have felt any of these things at all.

While he thought she was an angel sent straight down from heaven, he uses a clever play on words to depict the hell that this girl put him through, comparing her to a bad habit or an addiction that he'd kill to be rid of. Even though he's tried to drink away the pain and the memories of her, the bottle isn't working how he'd hoped and he's left missing her and reminiscing on the relationship gone wrong.

"Past, I've been spending every minute in the past
Wish I could hate you and the memories were bad
I was good without the best I ever had
There ain't no going back, no going back
Through that door I didn't see closin'
I'm feeling like this empty glass I'm holdin'"

Smith underscores that he's stuck in the past, reliving and reanalyzing all of their memories together. He wishes he could simply hate her and despise their time together, but he's learning that it's not quite that simple.

Noting that she was "the best [he] ever had," Smith understands that there's no going back to the person he used to be. Now, he's just left feeling empty and blindsided by what happened.

"I wish I never went down to that bar
I wish I never walked you back to your car
Yeah, I should've kept my heart to myself
'Cause girl I've spend too many days
Feeling things I wish I never felt
Girl, you were somethin' else
I didn't know an angel knew how to drag you through hell
I drank you from the bottle, should've left it on the shelf
It turns out whiskey ain't Novocain
I'm feeling things I wish I never felt"

While little has been said specifically about 'Wish I Never Felt,' Smith has explained that all of the songs from his Through the Smoke EP all work together to share the same sentiment across each of its seven songs.

“I’ve been through a lot of adversity in my life, but ‘through the smoke’ came to mind one day and I thought that was the perfect way to describe making it through tragedy," Smith shared in a statement about the project. "It captures what it looks like on the other side of heartbreak, on the other side of tragedy, on the other side of giving everything you’ve got to go after what you want to do in life.

"I think this EP is a transition between all the fire and pain and everything I went through, and then overcoming," he added. "And that’s what I want people to feel. It’s layered in there.”

Damn, rock bottom hits different this time
I've never felt it falling from cloud nine
They say the crash is always worth the high
But I'm losing my mind
I'm closing my eyes at night, but I ain't sleeping
The forever I saw I can't unsee it

I wish I never went down to that bar
I wish I never walked you back to your car
Yeah, I should've kept my heart to myself
'Cause girl I've spend too many days
Feeling things I wish I never felt
Girl, you were somethin' else
I didn't know an angel knew how to drag you through hell
I drank you from the bottle, should've left it on the shelf
It turns out whiskey ain't Novocain
I'm feeling things I wish I never felt

Past, I've been spending every minute in the past
Wish I could hate you and the memories were bad
I was good without the best I ever had
There ain't no going back, no going back
Through that door I didn't see closin'
I'm feeling like this empty glass I'm holdin'

I wish I never went down to that bar
I wish I never walked you back to your car
Yeah, I should've kept my heart to myself
'Cause girl I've spend too many days
Feeling things I wish I never felt
Girl, you were somethin' else
I didn't know an angel knew how to drag you through hell
I drank you from the bottle, should've left it on the shelf
It turns out whiskey ain't Novocain
I'm feeling things I wish I never felt

I wish I never felt the touch of your skin
I wish I never heard my name from your lips
'Cause I wish I never went down to that bar
I wish I never walked you back to your car
Yeah, I should've kept my heart to myself
'Cause girl I've spend too many days
Feeling things I wish I never felt
Girl, you were somethin' else
I didn't know an angel knew how to drag you through hell
I drank you from the bottle, should've left it on the shelf
It turns out whiskey ain't Novocain
I'm feeling things I wish I never felt

--

For more on Nate Smith, see below: