‘You Look Like You Love Me’ by Ella Langley and Riley Green - Lyrics & Meaning

In early June, while out on the road in support of Riley Green's Ain't My Last Rodeo tour, country prodigy Ella Langley shared a clip of a brand new track, ‘You Look Like You Love Me’.

Any new music from Ella is cause for celebration, but what made this all the more exciting was the fact that the song is a star-studded duet with her 2024 tour-mate, Riley.

The slow-burning, traditional-leaning track feels like it's been plucked straight from the ‘60s and ‘70s, with fans drawing comparisons between ‘You Look Like You Love Me’ and classic Johnny and June and George and Tammy duets such as ‘Jackson’ and ‘Golden Ring’.

Complete with delightful spoken verses and a healthy dose of romantic charm, ‘You Look Like You Love Me’ is already shaping up to be one of the many stand-outs from Ella Langley's second studio album, hungover. Shortly after announcing the project, the Alabama riser confirmed ‘You Look Like You Love Me’ would be released ahead of the full record, with the fan-favourite track arriving on June 21st.

Serving as an homage to old-timey, honky-tonk duets, with the yearning cry of pedal steel combining with the sashaying drums to produce a beautifully retro duet. Ella Langley's infuses plenty of swagger and charisma into her vocals, which carry the majority of the track, before Riley Green enters the fray to reciprocate her advances.

Riley's gruff, rugged delivery and the gravitas he brings create the perfect balance with Ella's voice, with the two lacing ‘You Look Like You Love Me’ with the chemistry needed to make this a convincing, simmering collaboration that oozes sexual tension.

“I was all but 22, I think, at the time,

I'd been out on the road, lonely at night,

And it'd been a while, so it was on my mind,

Well, I saw him walk in with his cowboy hat,

And I thought to myself, ‘I could use some of that’,

His boots like glass on a sawdust floor,

Had moves like nothing I'd ever seen before,

So I walked right up, and I pulled him to the side,

I handed that man a beer, and looked him in the eyes,

And I said, ‘Baby, I think you're gonna wanna hear this’,

Then I told him”

During the first of the alluring spoken verses, Ella Langley recalls the moment she met the man in question, with the fast-emerging artist wasting no time in making the first move when she spots him across the bar. She conveys the self-assurance that pervades ’You Look Like You Love Me’ by walking up to the love interest.

It feels like both the two vocalists are sharing the story of how they fell in love, although it's unclear who they're discussing it with, as Ella reveals this was a number of years ago.

She's 24 now, and this meeting happened when she was 22 - but judging from the tone of the narrator, it feels like the protagonist is supposed to be older than Ella is in real life, recounting her love-story to her children or perhaps even grandchildren.

Future-Ella looks back to a period of time when she was touring heavily, and she outlines how she'd been feeling a little devoid of romance due to all the nights spent out on the road, when she noticed a handsome cowboy striding through the bar doors.

She highlights the contrast between his shiny, glass-like boots and the dusty saloon floor, emphasising how this is love at first sight for her - and, as we later find out, for him too.

By prefacing the titular phrase in the hook by speculating that he's “gonna wanna hear this”, she captures the teasing, light-hearted confidence that underpins the track.

“‘Excuse me, you look like you love me,

You look like you want me, to want you to come on home,

Baby, I don't blame you, for looking me up and down across this room,

I'm drunk and I'm ready to leave, and you look like you love me’”

The opening line of the hook epitomises the wonderfully outrageous way in which Ella is flirting with the guy, crooning right off the bat that “you look like you love me”.

The politeness and hesitancy of ‘Excuse me’ accentuates the striking boldness of the next line - but don't take it too seriously, it's all permeated by a sense of enchanting playfulness. Ella shrugs her shoulders and remarks that she doesn't blame the man in the bar for wanting to talk to her, before confiding that she's intoxicated and wants to head home - tantalisingly implying that he should come with her.

“I was down at the local beer joint with a few of the guys

And this cute little country girl caught my eye

And I'm here to tell you, man, she was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen in boots

She walked right up to me and handed me a beer

And gave me a look like, ‘Lets get outta here’

That's when I knew she was every cowboy's dream come true

She told me this right here”

For Riley's verse, he makes it clear he appreciates Ella's forwardness in making her intentions clear. After passing him a cold one, he recollects how she shot him a glance that tells him she wants to leave with him, before describing her as “every cowboy's dream come true” when she asserts that ‘You Look Like You Love Me’.

“So if you ever see a man in a cowboy hat

And you think to yourself

I could use some of that

Don’t waste your time

Just give ‘em this here line

Goes a little like this”

Ella concludes the captivating duet with a message to both the listener and the person she's regaling with this story, again implying she's telling it to a younger generation.

She encourages them to be assertive when they see “a man in a cowboy hat” they like, and even gives them permission to use her titular line, “Excuse me, you look like you love me”.

Ella Langley has been sharing a plethora of teasers and snippets of ‘You Look Like You Love Me’, but hasn't spoken at length just yet about the inspiration behind the duet.

Riley Green, on the other hand, in an exclusive interview with Holler, delved into how the track came about, “The song with Ella was one of those things that can only happen out on the road, out on tour, just really organically. I heard the song, and I think she kinda thought maybe it would be a good collaboration with somebody, so I wrote a second verse for it. It's just a really fun song. She does a great job with it, and it's definitely something that I'm sure we'll be doing together”.

Ella Langley, Riley Green, Both

“I was all but 22, I think, at the time,

I'd been out on the road, lonely at night,

And it'd been a while, so it was on my mind,

Well, I saw him walk in with his cowboy hat,

And I thought to myself, ‘I could use some of that’,

His boots like glass on a sawdust floor,

Had moves like nothing I'd ever seen before,

So I walked right up, and I pulled him to the side,

I handed that man a beer, and looked him in the eyes,

And I said, ‘Baby, I think you're gonna wanna hear this’,

Then I told him,

‘Excuse me, you look like you love me,

You look like you want me, to want you to come on home,

Baby, I don't blame you, for looking me up and down across this room,

I'm drunk and I'm ready to leave, and you look like you love me’

I was down at the local beer joint with a few of the guys

And this cute little country girl caught my eye

And I'm here to tell you, man, she was the prettiest thing I'd ever seen in boots

She walked right up to me and handed me a beer

And gave me a look like, ‘Lets get outta here’

That's when I knew she was every cowboy's dream come true

She told me this right here

‘Excuse me, you look like you love me,

You look like you want me, to want you to come on home,

Baby, I don't blame you, for looking me up and down across this room,

I'm drunk and I'm ready to leave, and you look like you love me’

So if you ever see a man in a cowboy hat

And you think to yourself

I could use some of that

Don’t waste your time

Just give ‘em this here line

Goes a little like this

‘Excuse me, you look like you love me,

You look like you want me, to want you to come on home,

Baby, I don't blame you, for looking me up and down across this room,

I'm drunk and I'm ready to leave, and you look like you love me’”

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