“Just Another Day in Paradise”
Phil Vassar
Written by Phil Vassar and Craig Wiseman
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
November 25, 2000
Phil Vassar has already been a prominent player in our chart topper retrospectives through his songwriting, and penning big hits for artists like Jo Dee Messina (“Bye Bye,” “I’m Alright”) and Collin Raye (“Little Red Rodeo”) was enough to land him a recording contract of his own.
He found the most success with his debut album, which launched with the top five hit “Carlene” and earned him his first No. 1 single as an artist with the next release, “Just Another Day in Paradise.”
It makes for an interesting counterpoint to today’s No. 1 single from 1970, “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” because our protagonist here is surrounded by the love and support he needs, instead of walking the streets alone and feeling excluded.
But what really makes this record special for me is how anchored it is in gratitude. It’s not easy to be a husband and a father, and it comes with burdens and challenges. But they’re all tied up with blessings, and it’s easy to miss them if you remain focused on what you’ve given up for the sake of those blessings.
That second verse with the child climbing into bed and interrupting a long planned night of passion? Just try to hear an ounce of exasperation or frustration in his voice. It’s not there. The kid comes first and he’s happy to make them feel safe and secure after a bad dream.
It’s such a joyous celebration of modern fatherhood that foreshadowed the more recent work of Luke Combs and Kane Brown. Good on him for being a great dad and writing an awesome song about it.
“Just Another Day in Paradise” gets an A.
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This is always a nice “Feel Good” song that get’s me smiling. Always liked the line about drinking spoiled milk and making his wife laugh and then just putting it back in the fridge. Like throw it away.
I like the little details. I wish “Rose Bouquet” did better for him as I love that song.
Another song from the feel-good parade of #1 hits of 2000, and one of the best of the bunch. I’m not sure if it was a virtue or a vice to be another guy named Phil singing a song titled “Just Another Day in Paradise”, but Mr. Vassar certainly made it work for him with a solid pairing of domestic bliss and an addictive keyboard melody. At least in this song, Vassar was a hybrid of John Conlee and Ronnie Milsap, and as eluded to above, the details of this song really bring it home.
Vassar is hardly one of the best male vocalists Nashville has ever produced but me makes up for it with good songs and good-time enthusiasm to spare. He had apparently always planned to release “I’m Alright” as the marquee single from his debut album but reluctantly gave it away to Jo Dee Messina. I’m glad it worked out for him anyway because his debut album was a marvel, one from my collection that I still give a spin once or twice a year and which never fails to land me in a very specific mood. “Paradise” is probably the best song from the album but I like just about all of them. I’m not sure what happened but he never captured that magic again with subsequent releases. In 2001, it seemed like he had a finger on the pulse of country radio playlist preferences like few others of the era, but neither the songwriting nor the melodies were there to sustain the kind of extended run that early entries from his songbook teased.
I’ve also seen Phil Vassar twice in concert….20+ years apart. He showed up at my county fair in the summer of 2002, the apex of his commercial popularity. With all of the hits he wrote coupled with his own performances, it was one of the best county fair concerts of its era. Twenty-two years later in 2024, he showed up at the “town square” concert of the suburb where I currently live and had another solid show, albeit with the regrettable exclusion of “Rose Bouquet” on his set list.
Grade: A
I saw Phil once in 2010. He must have been drunk, as he spent the entire show doing cover songs, writhing around on top of his piano, and screaming F bombs at the audience.
From what I’ve seen, it can hard to tell the difference between a drunk Phil and a sober Phil as he can get really squirrely on that stage but what you’re describing does sound like there was 90-proof enhancement at work.
Joe Nichols performed drunk at my county fair once. His words were slurring pretty badly early in that show but he seemed to get it together by the show’s end.
The thing that baffled me more is that it was almost all cover songs. I think his only singles that he sang at that concert were “Just Another Day in Paradise” and “Don’t Miss Your Life”.
I do have to say, I was not expecting the F word to even be in Phil’s vocabulary.
I adore this song. So sincerely joyous and Vassar’s charisma shines through on it. If I had to think about it, I’m Alright and Just Another Day in Paradise are probably my top 2 “life is good” songs, so Vassar makes for a believably grateful songwriter.
This is such a charming, real sounding song. Early Phil Vassar had a knack for vivid yet grounded character sketches, with one of my personal favorites being “I Was” by Neal McCoy. I love that things go wrong in the song, but he’s happy anyway. Good stuff.
“I Was” is one of my favorite Neal McCoy songs, and it should’ve been a much bigger hit, imho. I especially love the imagery in the first verse about going on a morning drive in the Fall with the blue sky and leaves changing color.
I know I will be in the minority here, but I would give this one a “D+”. I just find it mediocre and bland. I also am not a bit fan of how wonderful daily family chaos is. It reminds me of parents who don’t have any problem with their kids misbehaving because they are “just kids”. Children absolute have the ability to behave in public. Sorry, it just hit a pet peeve of mine.
On another note. I truly appreciate this task you have taken on, but your a bit too generous with the “A” grades. Having this song with the same grade as Hello Darlin’ or Sunday Morning Coming Down? Just doesn’t make any sense to me.
Tom P, you may be in the minority here, but I for the most part share your views — though I’d probably give the song a C+. It’s not a bad song, but I feel, too, that it in no way belongs in the company of the “A”-graded songs we’ve seen so far in the seventies series. The differences between the highly rated songs of the two decades (again, that we’ve seen so far) in story telling and emotional connection are jarring to me.
Solid “B” from an artist whose solo career had about a five-year run of top 20 hits. His GREATEST HITS collection consisted of five songs he wrote that were hits for other artists, and three new songs (two of which became hits) for a total and six other hits.
Phil had a pleasant but not distinctive voice so one tends to remember the songs more than the artist.
I like this song . I appreciate your deeper reading into it too.
I love “I’m All Right”, but my favorite Phil Vassar penned song is Alan Jackson’s “Right on the Money.”
I love “Right On The Money” so much! It’s still one of my favorite Alan Jackson songs of all time. Love the laid back swing style and feel good vibes of that one. The lyrics fit Alan’s personality so much, that I was surprised to learn that it wasn’t written by him.
As with most of the commenters here, I adore this song. It’s such a charming sunny feel good song, and I love how it’s simply about a guy enjoying life with his wife and kids and taking things as they come, good or bad, with a smile. I don’t know if I’ve gotten even softer lately or just family generally meaning more to me than ever these days (maybe both), but I just really miss hearing more stuff like this on country radio today. Songs like this are refreshing to me compared to the umpteenth modern country song from a guy in his 30s or 40s singing about hooking up, angry breakups, alcohol beverages, trucks, and glorifying small towns (and usually paired with a boring melody and bland modern, computerized production).
I love how joyful Vassar’s vocals are throughout, especially during the soaring chorus. His “regular guy” vocals with very little to no twang are a perfect fit for the role of the modern family man in this song. The bright keyboards throughout seem to have been a signature part of Phil’s sound in the early 2000s, even on records that he wrote but someone else sang (See Tim McGraw’s “My Next Thirty Years” for more sunny keys). And as others have mentioned, I love how he was able to take the storytelling tradition of country music and put a contemporary spin on it. On this record, I love how detailed some of the lines are that show that they are a modern everyday family, such as the funny face he makes when he drinks milk that’s gone sour but accidently putting it back in the fridge instead of throwing it away, and the couple opting for Domino’s pizza as a backup plan when they’re late for their restaurant date. And like Kevin, one of my favorite parts of the song is when he is happy to let his kid sleep with him and the mom after having a bad dream, which reminds me of similar moments when I was little and didn’t want to sleep alone. Finally, I’ve always loved the sound of Paul Franklin’s steel guitar throughout. I just love that while a lot of these late 90s/early 2000s songs leaned contemporary, there was always a good amount of steel to be heard.
This was one of the instances in which I actually saw the music video on GAC first before hearing the song on the radio. As typical of a lot of videos from this time, I love how colorful it is, plus I love how parts of it resemble an actual family home video, which to me was unique at the time. I always had the image of Vassar strolling down the beach with his wife and kids in my head whenever I heard the song, as well.
A little later on around early 2001, my parents and I were in Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, VA, and I was looking around the music store called The Wall (before they changed location and became FYE). While there, I heard Phil Vassar’s debut album playing loudly, specifically the song “Lucky As Me,” if I remember correctly, which I was really enjoying. When I later returned to the store with my dad, it turned out that the lady working there was also a huge country music fan who had met many country artists in person and seen their shows, including Phil and Brad Paisley, and we chatted with her for a little while. She even showed us a picture of her with Toby Keith, who she was a big fan of. As a big Phil Vassar fan, she was also telling us about the situation he faced when both “Just Another Day In Paradise” and “My Next Thirty Years” were both competing for the number one spot around the same time, lol. She tried recommending us Phil’s debut album, along with Toby Keith’s How Do You Like Me Now?!, but I wasn’t looking for any current releases, since I was collecting older debut albums at the time. I did get Toby’s debut album, though, along with Mark Wills’ debut, and David Lee Murphy’s Out With A Bang, which she also recommended. Of course, I did later add Vassar’s debut to my collection, along with Toby’s How Do You Like Me Now?!, and yes, she was definitely right about those being great albums, too! :)
I’m so glad to see a couple others here who also love “Rose Bouquet,” which I always thought was underrated. That’s also one of my most favorite songs from Phil, and it always brings back great memories from the Spring of 2001 after seeing the Morgan Freeman and Monica Potter movie, Along Came A Spider, and us going to a memorable Pennsylvania trip when we stayed at the lovely Best Western hotel in Paradise in Amish Country for the first time, and us later going to the Wilmington area is Delaware. “Carlene” is also another one of my favorite feel good songs from earlier in 2000, which I also enjoyed the video, and I love the equally feel good “That’s When I Love You” from late 2001/early 2002, which has some nice backup vocals from Jo Dee Messina. Other favorites from his debut are “Lucky As Me,” “Didn’t You Know She’s Gone,” “Somewhere In Between,” and “Like I Never Loved Before.” I also enjoy his sophomore effort, 2002’s American Child. His unique non-twangy voice was overall a great fit for this period in country music, along with his contemporary sound and writing style.
Nice pic of Phil, btw! Love that leather jacket and how he was clean shaven during this time. I always thought the leather outfits many artists wore during this late 90s/early 2000 period were pretty neat (though Phil once said he regretted the leather pants he wore in the Carlene video, lol).
I cannot decide why I like this song so much but really wrestle with Lonestar’s “Mr. Mom” and Walker Hayes’ “Fancy Like.”
I was never a fan of Vassar as a vocalist, but I was never upset to hear him on the radio either.
Easily my favourite single of his.
Easy. Mr. Mom name-drops Barney and Fancy Like is pure cringe, so there’s no way this one can’t win among the three of them.
Vassar’s song is easily the most charming and well written of the three, imo, and has the best melody. Mr. Mom has actually grown on me quite a bit lately. I used to think it was cringe, but now I think it’s cute and refreshing compared to what most mainstream male artists sing about now. Hayes’ song is just pure cringe for me and easily the dud of the bunch. Can’t stomach the in your face drum machine and modern pop/hip hop style, as someone who’s not a fan of modern pop/hip hop music, in general.
I rarely disagree with your ratings but this song is just as cheesy as they get. I’d give it a C at best