You Ain't Much Fun

"You Ain't Much Fun" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Toby Keith that peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart. It was released in March 1995 as the third single released from his second studio album, Boomtown. It also peaked at #3 on the Canadian RPM country tracks.

Background and writing

Keith told The Boot that his co-writer, Carl Goff Junior "came on the bus, and I was writing one night, and he was telling me some story about his wife. He said, 'Me and my wife have been in a fight, and she said she was going to leave me if I didn't slow down, so I quit drinking. I'm not drinking right now. So now I've been having to mow and have been out working in the yard, and I've had to get that car running.' He was telling me all his agony. She came home one night, and he had hit himself with a wrench or something and hurt his hand, and she said, 'What's the matter?' He told her, 'You ain't much fun since I quit drinkin'.' I was writing songs, and I said, 'Let's write this right now.' And we just sat down and wrote it." ^[1]

Content

The song is an up-tempo melody in which the singer has just sobered up, and his wife makes him do chores for her. He tells her that she "ain't much fun" since he quit drinkin'.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price, of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that there is "just a touch of Roger Miller in this shuffle-beat lament of a man lonesome for the shelter of the bottle."^[2]

Chart positions

"You Ain't Much Fun" debuted at #63 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart for the week of March 15, 1995.

References

1. ^ Conaway, Alanna (21 October 2009). "Toby Keith, 'You Ain't Much Fun' - Story Behind the Lyrics". The Boot. http://www.theboot.com/2009/10/21/toby-keith-you-aint-much-fun-since-i-quit-drinkin-story/. Retrieved 21 June 2010. 
2. ^ Billboard, March 18, 1995