“What I Really Meant to Say”
Cyndi Thomson
Written by Tommy Lee James, Cyndi Thomson, and Chris Waters
Radio & Records
#1 (3 weeks)
September 14 – September 28, 2001
Billboard
#1 (3 weeks)
September 22 – October 6, 2001
Cyndi Thomson chose to walk away from her recording contract after releasing a successful debut album.
It was a surprising – and thankfully, not permanent – decision that came while the industry itself was shifting away from female artists making sophisticated pop country like “What I Really Meant to Say,” a classic hit that only hints at the complexity of her songwriting and the depth of her vocals across My World, one of the strongest country albums released in 2001.
She has a real ear for a pop hook, and the way the emotion builds in the chorus and then resets each time it ends makes for a satisfying feedback loop. It does feel very much like a 2001 debut single, with her label playing it safe the first time out. We only get hints of the expressive scope of her vocals on this track, which are so much more evident on her best single, “I Always Liked That Best,” and the Kim Richey co-write “I’m Gone,” which served as the album’s final hit single. But we do get a fresh and innovative arrangement that sounds nothing like anything that was played on the radio before or since. Bring back the penny whistle, Nashville!
Thomson resurfaced as a writer, playing a hand in one of Gary Allan’s best hits, “Life Ain’t Always Beautiful.” She most recently released “Devil’s Hands,” a song that is in contention for the best single of 2025 right here at Country Universe.
“What I Really Meant to Say” gets an A.
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My World was among my Top 10 favorite albums of any genre back in ’01. Cyndi Thomson’s gorgeous voice always suggested a sturdier Deana Carter as the two displayed the same languid, occasionally drawn out phrasing but Thomson possessed the stronger vocal
instrument. The fact that What I Really Meant To Say is only the third best single off that album and is still an A tells you about the singular quality on display. And yes, there’s no such thing as too much tin whistle! Reminds me alot of my beloved Corrs.
I suspect I’ll once again be the wet blanket on this one as I could never understand the appeal of this song. It was deeply impressive for a new artist to break through with a multi-week #1 amidst the hypercompetitive radio climate of 2001 so I’ll chalk this one up to a “me problem”, but even revisiting the song for the first time in 20 years didn’t soften my ambivalence toward it. It still sounds like a flyweight hybrid of vastly superior songs by Earl Thomas Conley and Wade Hayes. The only element that stands out for me is the opening musical salvo which I’ve never been able to identify but which you helpfully identify as a “penny whistle”. That was definitely a cool production trick.
I can’t say that I loved any of Cyndi’s three singles released to radio but “I Always Liked That Best” certainly showed the most potential with its sexy lyrics and sultry vocals. I was really surprised it wasn’t a much bigger hit, and it suggested that radio was already beginning its post-9/11 pivot away from women. I didn’t realize “I’m Gone” was a Kim Richey song. I normally love Richey but that one didn’t work for me. With all that said, I was disappointed when Thomson checked out after a single album (presumably so did Clay Davidson from this era???) as I saw potential for her to be the kind of artist I could rally around more than I did with her debut. Indeed, “Life Ain’t Always Beautiful” is an outstanding song and I’d love to hear Thomson’s vocals matched with those lyrics.
Anyway, I’m on an island so far with this review and I’ll be curious to see if that holds as other reviews roll in.
Grade: C
2001-me chafed against the breathy vocal style.
2025-me loves the nuanced lyrics, pop production style, and especially the Penny whistle. Paul Worley loves his Penny whistle as this is like the fourth song I heard him use it on.
Great stuff. She deserved more hits, but I’m glad she’s still a known quantity.
It’s good, but not great. I would give it a “B”. I think she actually is trying a bit too hard to show the emotion and it falls a tad bit flat for me.
I understand why, but I like to live in the alternative reality where she is a superstar in the genre. She had all the potential imo to be a huge star.
I purchased the CD when it first became available and I liked it, but ‘sophisticated pop country’ really isn’t my wheelhouse so I can only take so much of it. I was surprised that she chose to pull the plug on her own career, but it is unlikely that I would have purchased subsequent albums from her barring a significant change in direction.
This song rates a B+
I absolutely love this song, and it’s one of the “forgotten” early 2000s hits that I enjoyed revisiting the most when I started going back over songs from this period that I had not heard in a long time in the late 2000s/early 2010s. From the early 2000s contemporary production by Paul Worley featuring the “penny whistle,” the beautiful melody, Cyndi’s gorgeous, unique vocals, and the heartbreaking lyrics, it all just suddenly came back to me like it was only yesterday, and I fell in love with it all over again. It was a kind of song I wished I could still be hearing on the radio then, and that’s still true today.
But even back in 2001, when I was still much more of a traditionalist and didn’t quite appreciate the pop country sound that was in vogue at the time as much as I do now, I just couldn’t resist “What I Really Meant To Say.” The opening with the “penny whistle” alone made it immediately stand out on the radio, but there was also Cyndi’s unique breathy vocals that especially sounded really neat on the verses, along with the sad but beautiful melody that instantly grabbed me and could get stuck in my head forever. It was a “different” kind of pop country for me at the time, similar to how Jamie O’Neal’s “There Is No Arizona” was different. As stated by Kevin, I especially love the emotion in Thomson’s vocals during each chorus that nicely conveys the heartbreak and regret of still not being able to move on from an old love and not being able to show her true feelings when she suddenly runs into that former romantic partner in person. I also love how I can feel the regret coming from her on the second verse, especially as she sings “I held back the tears. Held onto my pride and watched you go. I wonder if you’ll ever know…” While there are also other great songs in country with a similar theme, this is definitely one of my favorites of its kind from the late 90s/early 2000s period, and I think it stands on its own due to its unique style and sound and Thomson’s vocal performance. I also love the jangly sounding guitar throughout (another signature of Paul Worley’s production style from this period), which gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling, along with the string section, giving it that big, wide open, atmospheric sound that I love.
I always enjoyed the video for “What I Really Meant To Say” every time it came on GAC, as well. Again, I love how unique it is for a country video, especially the setting with the beautiful candle decorated house on the hill near the water with a party going on inside. I also love how colorful it is with all the pink, purple, and blue featured throughout. Not to mention, I always thought Cyndi looked gorgeous in it. I love how some country videos from this time period take place in contemporary club/party settings, especially when it’s one for a sad song such as this, which makes for an interesting contrast, in which the singer is sad, but everyone else around her is having a blast. The music video for Mark Wills’ version of “Almost Doesn’t Count” also comes to mind with a similar, really neat contrast between the song and video.
“What I Really Meant To Say” was another one of the then current 2001 country songs that was featured on AMC Theaters’ playlist of music that they always played inside the theaters before the previews and the movie started. While my parents and I were at the AMC at Potomac Mills Mall sitting in our seats before the movie, my step dad recognized Cyndi Thomson’s song coming up, and he said to me “Hey, there you go!” since he knew I liked the song and that I loved it whenever the theater played any country songs, lol.
I also enjoyed the next two singles, “I Always Liked That Best,” and “I’m Gone,” which were also unique in their own right. In “I Always Liked That Best,” I could definitely hear the similarities to Deana Carter (great comparison by Chris), especially with the casual way she delivers the verses in her southern drawl. I also love how in one moment, you can hear what sounds like actual crickets on the record, which adds to the night time feel/atmosphere of the song. Love the sound of the accordion on it, as well. It’s such a charming record that deserved much better from radio, overall. “I’m Gone” is such a lot of fun, and I especially love the Duane Eddy style guitar featured throughout, and the humorous way she sings some of the lines in the verses, such as “Hey you. Yeah you with that smug look smeared across your face!” Knowing that it’s a Kim Richey song makes me like it even more.
And like Chris above, Cyndi’s My World album is also one of my favorite albums from 2001, and one of my favorite pop country albums, overall. It’s everything I’ve come to love and appreciate about the early 2000s sophisticated, melodic style of pop country that I really miss today. I absolutely love her voice, and it’s just so full of laid back charm throughout the entire record. I also really enjoy Paul Worley’s production featuring lots of chiming, jangly guitars, and other interesting arrangements throughout. Besides the singles, other favorites of mine are “But I Want To,” “There Goes The Boy,” “If You Were Mine,” “Hope You’re Doing Fine,” and “I’ll Be Seeing You.” Plus, “Things I Would Do” is not only one of the most unique, but also one of the cutest and most charming “I messed up” songs I’ve heard.
It’s really too bad she had to quit at the time given the high quality of that album, but it’s also understandable, considering the direction things were going when she did. Like Raymond, I also want to live in the alternate reality in which Cyndi Thomson, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Jamie O’Neal, and the other promising female artists from the beginning of the 2000s became the big stars they should’ve been. I’m definitely glad to see that Thomson has been back at making music again more recently, though!
If I’m nitpicking, I wish the vocals weren’t so breathy. But when Cyndi has the opportunity to open up at the end, her voice soars beautifully. And the penny whistle gave this song a distinctiveness that has made me remember it years later.
I was in Nashville last week and saw she was performing at one of the honky tonks on Broadway. When I saw her name on the sign, I smiled. So glad she’s singing again.
I was enchanted by the moodiness of this single from the Bobbie Gentry-like sultry vocals to the emotional impact of the lyrics.
It is seldom contextualized as such, but sophisticated pop-country being released in 2001 is the legacy of so much of the brilliant pop-country that came out of the eighties, especially with female artists, not to mention those women who dominated the ’90s.
It is fun to make all these connections and see pathways through the history of the genre that are often ignored.
This song fell perfectly in line with Wade Hayes “”What I Meant to Say” and Paul Brandt’s “I Meant To Do That.”