Zach Bryan’s “I Remember Everything,” featuring Kacey Musgraves, is an emotionally heavy country track about two people who used to love each other before life got in the way. In a way, it’s sort of like an ode to the love stories that could have been great and beautiful but were laid to rest due to life’s cold and unrelenting embrace. It’s about the love that shouldn’t have ended but did, and now there’s nothing left but the memories that would not go away.
“Do I remind you of your daddy in his ’88 Ford? / The sand from your hair is blowin’ in my eyes / Blame it on the beach, grown men don’t cry,” he gently sings, remembering moments from the life they used to share. “Do you remember that beat-down basement couch? / I’d sing you my love songs and you’d tell me about / How your mama ran off and pawned her ring / I remember, I remember everything.”
In the chorus, Bryan confesses he would rather not remember these moments if he could help it, “I wish I didn’t, but I do / Remember every moment on the nights with you.”
Musgraves comes in with an accusatory line, singing, “You’re drinkin’ everything to ease your mind / But when the hell are you gonna ease mine?” She also goes on to remember a time when their love burned true and bright – too bad he couldn’t be the man he promised he was. “No, you’ll never be the man that you always swore / But I’ll remember you singin’ in that ’88 Ford.”
“I Remember Everything” is from Zach’s fourth self-titled album released this month, and is one of three collaborative tracks on the album. Speaking on the songs on the album, Bryan revealed that while he doesn’t have a story behind every song, he still believes in their uniqueness and ability to touch hearts.
“Some of them are heavy, some of them are hopeful,” he says of the songs, “but more than anything, what’s most important to me is that they’re all mine. If people listen to it, I’ll be grateful. If people don’t, I’ll still be grateful because I got the chance in this life to be original when it mattered.“
As for the reason he chose to self-title the album, he explains, “I wrote and produced an album that I would want to listen to. I self-titled it because I hear every cell of my being in it. Some of it’s slow and low, some of it’s reckless, some of it’s loud, some of it’s quiet, but it’s all me at twenty-seven.”
