Chris Young is sharing the story behind “Tin Roof.” The song, written by Ty Graham, Adam Wood, and Trenton Michael Fisher, is on Young’s latest I Didn’t Come Here To Leave album, out now.
“One of the other love songs on the record is ‘Tin Roof,” Young says, in a video shared on social media. “‘Tin Roof’ is a song that was on hold for Keith Urban. Keith very gratefully – thank you, Keith, by the way – was like, ‘I would just be sitting on this song for a couple of years.’ I was like, ‘I want that song. Would you mind if I cut it?’ He hit me back immediately, and was like, ‘No. Why?’ I was like, ‘Because I’m going to cut it.’
“The hook of the song is, I’m the tin roof, and you’re the rain,'” he adds. “I just thought that was a really beautiful way to say that. I thought it was really cool.”
“Tin Roof” says in part, “I’m a two-lane, and you’re a Sunday drive / I’m a hometown, and you’re a Friday night / Whatever I am, you’re the best part of it / Take it away, and it ain’t worth nothing /Without one, the other ain’t the same /Yeah, I’m the tin roof, and you’re the rain.”
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Chris Young’s Current Single, “‘Til the Last One Dies”
“Tin Roof” isn’t the only love song on I Didn’t Come Here To Leave. Young has a Top 30 hit right now with “‘Til the Last One Dies.” The romantic tune is written by Ben Hayslip, Seth Mosley, and Jordan Walker.
“I just thought the message on this one was so perfect,” Young tells Audacy. “I went to every single one of my friends, male, female, whatever, that were married or in a relationship, and they were all just blown away by this song, so I was like, ‘Okay, we gotta go with this one first. It’s just too perfect.’”
Young wrote all but three of the songs on I Didn’t Come Here To Leave. But for Young, the best song always wins, which is why he immediately latched on to “‘Til the Last One Dies” as his first single.
“This is one of the few that’s on the record that I was not a co-writer on, but got a chance to sing it and produce it with my buddy, Andy [Sheridan],” Young tells iHeart. “I think if I was going to say why I was drawn to this song, not only is it a very new way to say ‘I love you’ to somebody in song form,. My favorite line is the line leading up to the hook, saying that he bought ‘A dozen roses …11 real ones, one fake one, and I’ll love you ’til the last one dies.’”
Chris Young’s ‘I Didn’t Come Here To Leave’ Album
I Didn’t Come Here To Leave is Young’s tenth studio album, and his first on Black River Entertainment. The Tennessee native wrote the title track with Kyle Fishman and Dallas Davidson.
“I liked the sentiment of this,” Young says. Like, ‘Hey, I’ve still got a bunch of stuff that I want to say even after, this is my tenth album,’” Young explains. “So, I like the idea of that. And also, just that it’s something that you’re going to crank and roll your windows down.”