Toby Keith, “Lost You Anyway”
Toby Keith is such an ace ballad singer that he can make a totally lame ballad still sound kind of cool. That’s pretty much the story with “Lost You Anyway.”
The song attempts to flesh out a relationship which has presumably been doomed from the beginning, but reveals frustratingly little about why that is, content to linger in one-dimensional self-pity instead. The chorus is especially annoying, as the strong melody gets neutered by a barrage of lazy, vague lyrics (“could’ve tried just a little bit harder…dug down just a little bit deeper.” Are we talking about the relationship or the songwriting?)
But the vocal performance is strong as ever, and the production does the country-arena rock hybrid thing better than most of its ilk, with a repeated electric guitar fill that manages to not sound obnoxious. I doubt anyone is going to remember this five years from now, but as skip-it radio filler goes, it’s palatable.