Ronnie Milsap’s “Button Off My Shirt”
On 10-12-2009
at 11:50 am
The country news well is running pretty dry, so I thought I would give a retrospective look at Ronnie Milsap’s top 5 hit “Button Off My Shirt.” There are actually two versions of this song in existence. The one that most people are familiar with is the 1988 version, but in 1996 it was updated with flashier production. The later version sounds a little dated, but the original was a perfect fit for it’s time. It was at a period when country had all but lost its traditional values. Synthesizers and electric drum kits were taking the place of the real thing. Country pop was not entirely awful, but this song is the perfect example to both the good and bad of the genre.
On one hand this is just a fun song. Even though the production is cheesy, you get the feeling that this would have been ideal for the soundtrack of a 1980’s romantic adventure, like Romancing the Stone. This is the perfect road trip sing-a-long, And I have read somewhere that this song will cure depression. Ronnie proves that he is a master vocalist, belonging in the same class as Michael Mcdonald. However, on the other hand, everything that I have described is exactly what makes it bad, like a B horror movie. This is not necessarily a bad thing. We’ve all heard the expression ‘it’s so bad it is good’ , but that doesn’t work for a country song. True country music does not go through an identity crisis. It knows exactly what it is. The over the top synth and electric drums scream 1980s pop production which should have alienated the song from country radio.
Should we blame Ronnie for this? Absolutely not. He is not a poser. He has never recorded a song without sacrificing the integrity of country music. This is what modern country has done all by itself. In the past, music row had made room for all of the sub-genres of country. The 1960’s saw the birth of Countrypolitan and the Nashville Sound. They made room for the outlaw movement in the 1970’s. We won’t mention all of the different styles in the 1980’s. The elitism that plagues country music now has only become a problem in the last 15 years. Ronnie doesn’t even have a chance of getting played on today’s country radio. Let’s hope that country music will become tolerant once again.
