“Man to Man”
Gary Allan
Written by Jamie O’Hara
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
March 15, 2003
Crazy how something that sounds so forward-thinking today is technically a relic.
The emotional intelligence of “Man to Man” is off the charts. Gary Allan takes the familiar trope of a man confronting another man over the way he’s talking about a woman around town. “My Boyfriend’s Back” is as good a reference as any of how that scenario was once expected to go down.
But Allan doesn’t challenge the man to fisticuffs to prove who’s the bigger man. He presents the fact that she’s moved on as its own evidence that he fell short. I didn’t steal her, my friend. You cheated her of the love and devotion she deserved, so she found it somewhere else.
You ain’t man enough to keep your woman, sir, but Allan is.
“Man to Man” gets an A.
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Lyrics a bit boring but melody, production, & vocal performance are all excellence. It’s a shame I didn’t remember this one. I may have to put this on my playlist. “B+”.
I always forget that this was one of the few singles Gary had that went #1. It’s a good song but not one of my favorites by him but it’s far and away better than future singles “The One” (Hated the overproduction) and “Tough Little Boys” (Was surprised he choose to record the song, seemed out of his wheelhouse) which I believe is a coming up in the future.
I found this song extremely whiny and judgmental. I wouldn’t like it if he answered with a brawl, but is browbeating condescension any better? He just sounds unnecessarily abrasive and sneering on “if you really loved her, why’d you make her cry?”
I’m also amazed this was a #1 and his highest hot 100 peak, as it had no staying power. I haven’t heard it in decades and I never hear even fans of his bring it up.
It still gets a ton of airplay around here. The only other song from 2003 I hear more than “Man to Man” is “I Love This Bar”
I can count on one hand the number of times I heard “Man to Man” in the wild after it fell off the charts.
I still think this song is extremely whiny and reeks of superiority, not helped by Gary’s whiny snarl of a voice. I think a similar idea was done better in Vince Gill’s “Cinderella”.
Kevin,
Man To Man went to #1 on Radio & Records for one week on March 7, 2003 as well. So please fix it ASAP. Thank You.
Gary Allan was one of mainstream country music’s most-interesting artists from the time he released “Her Man.” With a career with massive ups and downs (both personally and career-wise), Gary always seemed to move forward and straddled the artsy side with the demands of mainstream, perhaps better than anyone before him. This song, while not a favorite of his, succeeds because of Allan’s vocal delivery.
Good but not great song, although Gary’s vocal is fine. For whatever reason, local radio rarely played the song after it slipped off the charts. I’d give it a B+
I want to call attention to the songwriter. Gary Allan was one of the best interpreters of Jaime O’Hara’s lyrics. Give credit to Tony Brown and Mark Wright who provide all the wonderful sonic swells and slides to give this song it’s slippery appeal.It sounds like two fighters verbally sizing one another up before a fight.
I hear somebody who knows the truth behind the facade of a relationship, simply calling bullshit. Allan punches above his weight class as a vocalist here.