Comments on: Retro Single Review: George Strait, “Ocean Front Property”

By: Rachael Sarah Williams

Rachael Sarah Williams — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 23:16:28 +0000

Great review! You’re right that it’s Strait’s vocals keeping the song from veering into camp. He could sing the Amarillo phone book and make it sound fantastic.

It’s always fun to see how country songs turn old sayings into catchy lyrics.

By: Billy

Billy — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:52:05 +0000

I have always really liked this song. It’s just one that has always stuck with me.

By: RowdyRed

RowdyRed — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:48:17 +0000

Yes, irony is the soul of both “Ocean Front Property” and “I’ll Take You Back,” but the sentiments are totally opposite. George will never get over his broken heart, whereas Brad ain’t EVER takin’ that b**ch back. But both songs use irony to make their point.

I’m one of the people who still thinks Brad’s doing fine, and wonder why his name even came up in this context…particularly if it’s so cliche’ to slam him. He doesn’t write or sing songs that fuel some kind of class/culture war, most of his themes (even the “silly” ones) assume we have brains, education and jobs, and I’d personally appreciate a whole lot more Brad clones than “rural pride” clones.

I’d love “Ocean Front Property” even more if George hadn’t become totally become a cliche’ machine. This is one of his best, but it has some very lame company.

By: bob

bob — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:57:10 +0000

@MM – Brad may very well be familiar with this clever song recorded but not written by Strait. BP co-wrote a song with Robert Arthur and Tim Owens that had a similar theme called “I’ll take You Back” from his “Time Well Wasted” album. I like the line “When politicians everywhere stop telling lies and only state the facts … I’ll take you back”.

Rhonda Vincent’s “I’ve Forgotten You” also had a similar theme and I’m sure there are other songs that did before and after “Ocean Front Property”. I don’t dispute the merits of the latter even though Strait is not one of my favorite artists.

By: Motown Mike

Motown Mike — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 03:28:45 +0000

I’ll second, third, fourth, fifth and say that this song is also one of my favorites from King George. It’s one of those country songs where the clever attitude it seeks to convey is actually clever. There is no jumping up and down saying “hey look at me, look at how clever I am”; so Mr. Paisley, I’m sure you have this track on cassette somewhere, pop it in, press play and then rewind and repeat.

It is has almost become cliche to take pot-shots at Brad’s attempts at songs that try to be clever, corky or funny. But when you listen to this song you can’t help but critique his material against a song like Ocean Front, a song that works so well.

By: Devin

Devin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:43:41 +0000

Definitely one of my favorite George Strait songs as well. I’ve taken to using the phrase myself in certain situations, but it seems like no one gets the reference to this song nowadays. Great little review there, Ben.

By: Ben Foster

Ben Foster — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:06:10 +0000

No sweat, Hoggy. I’m sure there are plenty people right here in the U.S. who don’t know their own country’s geography well enough to know that Arizona does not have an ocean border. Which means ocean front propert is mighty hard to come by over there…

By: Jordan Stacey

Jordan Stacey — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 05:56:44 +0000

In my top five Strait singles, I absolutley love this one and would love to see someone cover it one day as I love cover songs and it’d be interesting to get a different take on it. Though I doubt anybody can be as good as Strait is here.

By: Hoggy from Oz

Hoggy from Oz — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 05:13:13 +0000

Haha. A great song I didn’t understand until recently (Go easy on me, I do live in Australia after all!). One of may favourites Strait songs now for all the reasons you said Ben :)