Wait In The Truck

Album

Single

Label

Big Loud

Genre

Murder ballad

Composer(s)

Hunter Phelps;Jordan Schmidt;HARDY;Renee Blair

Entered Chart

Sep 10, 2022

Peak Date

Feb 4, 2023

Released

29 August, 2022

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

We the Best Music Group

Here, Hardy teams up with Lainey Wilson to recount a story of domestic violence and revenge. Hardy portrays a truck driver who picks up Wilson's character on the side of the road one night. Upon realizing her partner is abusing her, he furiously drives to the abuser's home and tells Wilson to wait in the truck. Hardy grabs his Taurus Judge revolver and shoots the dude, then calmly waits on the porch to be arrested. Though the singer pays the price with a lengthy jail sentence, he finds consolation knowing Wilson is now in a happier place and his prison cell is "hell of a lot better" than where Lainey's abuser is now. The song concludes with a choir joining the two artists to sing repeatedly, "Lord, have mercy on me." "The topic isn't talked about a lot; these are things that happen behind closed doors," Wilson noted to The Tennessean. "This one is going to start a conversation that a lot of people don't want to have, but it is our job as artists to sing about things that people are scared to talk about," Wilson added. "Domestic abuse is a fragile subject, but I hope this song brings light to a situation that is more common than we'd like to admit. For the abusers, I hope this song haunts them. For the victims, I hope they know they're not alone." Wilson namedropped two classic murder ballads - Garth Brooks' "The Thunder Rolls" and The Chicks' "Goodbye Earl" - as songs that inspired her performance. Hardy wrote "Wait In The Truck" with Hunter Phelps and Jordan Schmidt on March 18, 2021 at Schmidt's home studio. "Something very spiritual happened the day that we wrote that song," he told The Tennessean. "We just kind of looked down at our pen and paper and we looked up and the song was written, it was amazing to be a part of it. It speaks on something very important, domestic violence. At the end of the day I just really hope that this gives somebody a platform to speak out." Hardy and Lainey have prior history together. Both were special guests on Jason Aldean's 2021 Back in the Saddle Tour 2021 and Wilson also featured on the 2021 Hardy-curated Hixtape: Vol 2 track "Beer Song." Hardy and Wilson gave the first live performance of the song at Dierks Bentley's Seven Peaks Musical Festival on September 3, 2022. Both artists recreated their looks from the song's music video on stage. Hardy donned an orange prison jumpsuit and Wilson wore an auburn red wig and a white tank top. The song originated with a conversation between Hardy and Hunter Phelps about what they might do if someone attacked their fiancées. Hardy suggested he would get his girlfriend, Caleigh Ryan, to show him where her attacker lives, then tell her to wait in the truck. "We just kind of laughed," Hardy recalled to Billboard. "And then we had that songwriter moment where we looked at each other and we were like, 'Oh s--t. 'wait in the truck' is a good song title.'" Schmidt enlisted his fiancée, singer-songwriter Renee Blair, to provide the demo's female voice. She added a repeated cry of "Have mercy on me" at the back end. "The gentleman in the song that was abusive to the woman, he would probably not stop there," said Blair. "People like that tend to have a repeated pattern of inflicting that kind of pain onto many others, so I think it's like, 'Have mercy on me for ending someone's life that is potentially ruining many lives.'" When Hardy heard the demo that night, he offered Blair co-writing credit for her additional contribution.

I got turned around in some little town
I'd never been to before
Working my way through a middle of June
Midnight thunderstorm
There was something in the headlights
It stopped me on a dime
Well, she was scared to death
So I said "Climb in" and in she climbed
Oh, yeah

Well, she was bruised and broke from head to toe
With a tear in her blood stained shirt
She didn't tell the whole truth but she didn't have to
I knew what had happened to her
I didn't load her down with questions
That girl had been through enough
I just threw it in drive, looked in those eyes
And I asked her where he was

I don't know if he's an angel
'Cause angels don't do what he did
He was hellbent to find the man behind
All the whiskey scars I hid
I never thought my day of justice
Would come from a judge under a seat
But I knew right then I'd never get hit again
When he said to me

"Wait in the truck"
"Just wait in the truck"

Well, I knocked and knocked and no one came
So I kicked in his double wide door
I let the hammer drop before he got
To that 12 he was reaching for
I didn't try to hide my pistol
I didn't even try to run
I just sat on the porch, smoking one of his cigarettes
And waited for the cops to come

I don't know if he's an angel
'Cause angels don't do what he did
He was hellbent to find the man behind
All the whiskey scars I hid
I never thought my day of justice
Would come from a judge under a seat
But I knew right then I'd never get hit again
When he said to me

"Wait in the truck"
"Just wait in the truck"
Whoa (oh)
Have mercy on me, Lord
Have mercy on me
Have mercy on me (oh), Lord

It's been sixty months and she still comes
To see me from time to time
It was worth the price, to see a brighter side
Of the girl I picked up that night
And I might be here forever
It ain't paradise that's true
But it's a whole hell of a lot better
Than the place I sent him to, yeah

(Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy on me)
Wait in the truck (have mercy on me)
Just wait in the truck
(Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy on me)
Wait in the truck (Lord, have mercy)
Just wait in the truck
(Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy on me)
Have mercy on me, Lord
Have mercy on me
(Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy on me)
Have mercy on me, Lord
(Have mercy on me)
(Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy on me)
Wait in the truck
Just wait in the truck
(Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy on me)
Wait in the truck (please, have mercy)
Just wait in the truck (please, have mercy)