Keith Anderson, “Somebody Needs A Hug”

Listen, country songwriters of the world: not every semi-popular catchphrase requires its own song. Some things just don’t really need to have music written about them, and hugging out someone else’s case of “the Mondays” is one of them. I kept waiting for the twist in this number, sure that the narrative couldn’t possibly begin and end at Anderson entreating his addressee to give him “a big ol’ teddy bear squeeze,” but no. It really is exactly what the title says, and nothing more.

Worse, though, is the fact that the song never really embraces the silliness suggested by its theme. There are some cute lines here and there (“I’d be wise to disappear if I had any sense, but I don’t”), but all-in-all, it’s a novelty song without much novelty.

Written by Keith Anderson, Bob DiPiero, & David Lee Murphy

Grade: D

Listen: Somebody Needs A Hug

Buy: Somebody Needs A Hug

10 Comments

  1. Exactly! This song had potential to be cute, though not a heck of a lot of potential, but they completely miss the mark. Does anyone else hear remnants of “Achy Breaky Heart” in the guitar work? Then again, the guitar isn’t even as interesting as “Echy Breaky.”

  2. For me, this is preferable to “I still miss you”; but that’s not saying a lot.

    Yeh now that you mention it Leeann it does sound a bit like “Achy Breaky Heart” in the ffirst verse.

    I think the only exceptional song from the C’mon album is the title track.

  3. After listening to this tune one more time, I am really surprised that ace songwriters like Bob DiPiero and David Lee Murphy didn’t come up with anything more original than this … or at least some cutsie lines to tie the verses to the hook in the title.

  4. I saw Anderson live about a week ago, as he was part of a triple bill at the state fair. He played for about 35 minutes, then Miranda Lambert (the sole reason I went to the show) did an hour-long set, and then I took off before Trace Adkins performed because no, thank you.

    With the exception of “Picking Wildflowers,” he got a pretty middling reception from the crowd, but I’ve certainly seen much, much worse live performers headline mainstream country shows… Though I still don’t think I’ll ever be able to tell him and Jason Aldean apart.

    The couple of (very, very drunk) women in front of me, who knew every word to “I Still Miss You” and “Lost in This Moment” and were generally more into Anderson than most of the crowd, had this to say in response to this song: “Is he f***ing kidding with that s**t?”

    And… yeah, more or less. As novelty singles go, it isn’t catchy, dumb, or offensive enough to be memorable. It’s just inert.

  5. The songwriters behind this one have definitely done better work. But no one is exempt from writing bad songs now and then; it just happens.

    I actually really like Anderson’s “XXL,” which is probably even more inane than this one. I can totally get behind a good stupid song, but it has to go full-throttle with its stupidity. This one just doesn’t go anywhere. So basically, what Jonathan said.

    I definitely thought about giving it a ‘D.’ Listening back to it, I’m kind of wondering why I didn’t.

  6. I was tempted to like this song just because I’m a hugger as well. But Keith just doesn’t quite pull it off, and I think the production sounds quite obnoxious. But I’ll still let Keith hug me if he wants to.

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