I never shoved any of my songs down the throat of labels or said, "No, we're going to cut this." I just didn't do that. They didn't want to take up that slot with something patriotic. But when we put together the album, for some reason the record label just didn't think that was something they wanted to do. I just always try to put something patriotic on my albums. Songfacts: Many also assume that "Where the Stars and the Stripes and the Eagle Fly" was written in response to 9/11, but that was actually scrapped from an earlier album, right? Heck, man, if you listen to almost all Aaron Tippin songs, blue collar stuff, you know, that's my dad coming out of me, always. Tippin: Right, and my dad was my hero in life. But when you listen to it, it's about sticking to your morals and convictions in everyday life. Songfacts: Because it became associated with the Gulf War, a lot of people look at it as being a patriotic song. All we did was recall how our dads raised us, what kind of guys they were, and that's basically how we put that tune together. Tippin: Buddy Brock and I wrote that song. Songfacts: Your first Top 10 hit was "You've Got To Stand For Something." What do you remember about writing that one? Next thing you know, it said, "Here's one from a guy down South Carolina, Aaron Tippin." Bam! I went, "Wow! He played it!" We're riding away and we still had that radio station tuned in. We said, "Well, we were out trying to see if we could get a record played." He says, "Okay, I'll check it out." He slammed the door in our face, we left. Once in awhile they did, and I can remember a guy met us at the door, wouldn't even let us come in. We'd go down to the studio and we'd cut a little 45 and we'd take it around to all the local radio stations, try to get them to play it. It's way before I went to Nashville, in my honky tonk years. Songfacts: Do you remember the first time you heard yourself on the radio? You know, Mark had that as his first single. That was on The Chase that ended up being a big crossover album. But I wasn't disappointed at all that Garth got it. Songfacts: We recently talked to Mark Collie and he was telling us about " Something With A Ring To It." He said he really wanted George Strait to record that one, and then it ended up going to Garth Brooks. We brought the song, pitched it, and he bit. Songfacts: You didn't write that specifically with him in mind, that was something you had to kind of shop around? First cut for another artist was David Ball, "I Was Born With a Broken Heart." Songfacts: And what was your first big cut for another artist? Songfacts: But it's not so simple when you actually try to do it, is it? He just always found the right words to say something, and it affected me. Tippin: Don't be complicated, don't write riddles. What lessons did you take from him in songwriting? Songfacts: You've said in many of your interviews that Hank Williams, Sr., was a major influence on you. So I consider myself a songwriter that became a singer. I started writing songs - I was already a songwriter, but I fell so in love with songwriting. Nobody even had the courtesy to call me back. But I had a videotape, so I took it around to all the record labels. I was on a show called You Can Be A Star. Do you consider yourself a songwriter first before you're a performer?Īaron Tippin: Well, the truth is I came to Nashville as a singer, and nothing happened. Amanda Flinner (Songfacts): When you first came to Nashville, you started out as a songwriter. On a brief respite from touring, he's still happy talk about his career - from his early days in Nashville to his 2015 anniversary album Aaron Tippin - 25 Years. True to his roots, Tippin was rambling through the North Georgia Mountains with his uncle en route to look at a plane when Songfacts caught up with him. His résumé supplied the building blocks for his working class anthems, but he also showed a tender side with the hit ballads "My Blue Angel" and "That's As Close As I'll Get To Loving You." When he wasn't on stage performing at local bars, he was earning his own ''Working Man's Ph.D.'' as a trucker, welder, mechanic, and airplane pilot. Tippin's brand of blue collar pride and unwavering patriotism was instilled during his upbringing on a South Carolina farm. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Tippin had another patriotic hit with "Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly" and started an annual tradition of entertaining US troops stationed around the world. His first Top 10 hit, "You've Got To Stand For Something," struck a chord with soldiers fighting in the Gulf War and earned the singer an invitation to join Bob Hope's famed USO tour. As a songwriter at Acuff-Rose Music, he penned songs for The Kingsmen, Charley Pride, David Ball, and Garth Brooks before landing his own recording contract at RCA Nashville in 1990. Aaron Tippin began his country music career in a cubicle.
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