At The End Of A Bar

Album

Famous Friends

Label

RCA Records Nashville

Genre

Contemporary Country

Media Type

DD

Duration

3:06

Composer(s)

Chris Young;Mitchell Tenpenny;Chris DeStefano

Entered Chart

Jul 30, 2022

Peak Date

Aug 20, 2022

Released

September 13, 2021

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

RCA Records Nashville

This driving duet between Chris Young and Mitchell Tenpenny is an ode to their cherished watering holes. The two country stars sing of the many opportunities you can find at a bar, including: Making a best friend without ever learning their name. Finding "a pair of blue eyes" who becomes your true love. Listening to a '90s cover band bringing back memories. Looking "for answers at the bottom of a glass." Young and Tenpenny wrote the song alongside Chris DeStefano ("From the Ground Up," "Something in the Water") in February 2021. They penned it at DeStefano's home in Brentwood, a Nashville suburb. DeStefano had already started on a track based around an unassuming acoustic guitar riff when the other two arrived at the session. A few days earlier, Young and Tenpenny met up for a few cold ones at a hot spot near Nashville's Music Row. When Young nonchalantly mentioned their night out at the end of the bar, Tenpenny quickly spotted a song idea. "I'm normally really good about picking things that people say out of a conversation and going, 'That's a song title,'" Young told American Songwriter. "Well that day, I was talking to Chris and I was like, 'The other day, me and Mitchell were sitting at the end of a bar…' and Mitchell went 'That's what we need to write! It all starts at the end of a bar.'" They all agreed it was a cool idea and wrote the song in about 45 minutes. During verse two, Tenpenny sings about '90s cover bands. He references two classic '90s songs: Brooks & Dunn's "Brand New Man" and Tracy Lawrence's "Time Marches On" to illustrate the point. You can hear a cover band Playin' '90s songs Become a brand new man To time marches on Time marches on Young noted to Billboard: "We ended up settling on 'Time Marches On' because you say it twice, and then you sort of have that double entendre of, 'Are we just talking about the Tracy Lawrence song? Or are we talking about the actual story that is in the song?' It's like, time is continuing forward." The wistful tribute to bar life nearly didn't happen. The writer trio had a date in their diaries, but then an ice storm hit Nashville. Everywhere was iced up, and it was hard for Young to leave his driveway, but he feared missing out on writing something cool. "I kinda got FOMO, that fear-of-missing-out moment," he told Billboard. "Everybody always talks about songwriting, that you must be present to win it. I would hate if I ever canceled anything and then that was the day we were supposed to write a huge song." Young contacted Tenpenny to say he was good to go, but was willing to reschedule if Tenpenny wanted to. They decided to go ahead with the session and met at DeStefano's snowbound house. He credits Tenpenny for keeping the date because when the three got together that snowy day, they came up with one of Young's favorite tracks on the Famous Friends album. Did you spot Tracy Lawrence's cameo in the song's music video? When Tenpenny name-checks "Time Marches On," the country star holds up a shot at the end of the bar.

You can find your future
Or run into your past
You can look for answers
At the bottom of a glass
You can make a best friend
And never know their name
And buy 'em shots of tequila then forget why you came

There's a million things that you can find
Bartender conversation or a pair of blue eyes, yeah
Your true love or next broken heart
Maybe a party crowd on a Friday night
Long necks, long lines and neon signs, hell
Sometimes that's where it all starts
At the end of a bar

You can hear a cover band
Playin' 90s songs
Become a brand new man
To time marches on
Time marches on

There's a million things that you can find
Bartender conversation or a pair of blue eyes, yeah
Your true love or next broken heart
Maybe a party crowd on a Friday night
Long necks, long lines and neon signs, hell
Sometimes that's where it all starts
At the end of a bar
Oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, ooh

There's a million things that you can find
Bartender conversation or a pair of blue eyes, yeah
Your true love or a next broken heart (or a next broken heart)
Maybe a party crowd on a Friday night
Long necks, long lines and neon signs, hell
Sometimes that's where it all starts
At the end of a bar, oh, oh, yeah

At the end of a-, at the end of a-, at the end of a bar
At the end of a-, at the end of a-, at the end of a bar
(Oh, you know that's right where you start)

You can find your future
Or run into your past
You can look for answers
At the bottom of a glass