Rascal Flatts – “I Won’t Let Go”
Songwriters: Steve Robson and Jason Sellers
“I Won’t Let Go” could be a vow of marital devotion or a promise to protect a baby daughter through her childhood years. Perhaps it’s a helping hand extended to a friend, or maybe the whole thing is written from the vantage point of God addressing a member of his flock. It could even be a song mourning the deteriorating health of a pet turtle. As written, there is absolutely no way of knowing. The whole thing is just so darn vague. And the problem starts at the top, with the BMI database listing 36 other songs with this exact same title.
If lyrics like “I will stand by you/I will help you through/When you’ve done all you can do” lack much of the poetry and specificity of “Bless the Broken Road,” LeVox & Co. don’t let on that they’ve noticed. In fact, they treat this like the best thing they’ve ever heard, giving a tasteful, restrained reading that bears favorable comparison to their career-defining cut of the aforementioned “Road” and their winning a cappella recording of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”
When Team Flatts isn’t bobbing that head or celebrating the widespread sexiness of coed summer nights, they can be very good singers. Like “Why Wait” before it, “I Won’t Let Go” recalls the crisp, harmony-centered sound of the trio’s very first recordings, before their arena rock inclinations were given free reign. Sure, the lone piano of the opening is eventually joined by a full band, and LeVox predictably kicks the theatrics up a notch at the bridge. But there’s a lot more restraint here than we heard from these guys in the years leading up to Nothing Like This. It’s sort of refreshing to find them doing their thing this well again.
Lyrics don’t come much more generic, but Rascal Flatts singles don’t come much more beautifully executed. If there ever existed any truly good reason to rename oneself The Voice–and please bear in mind that this is very much a hypothetical proposition–it would probably be found in performances like this.
Listen: Rascal Flatts – “I Won’t Let Go”
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17 Comments
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January 26, 2011 at 7:32 am Permalink
I probably would have given it a Thumbs Down, but I agree with just about everything up to the final verdict. I did notice that Gary’s performance is much more toned back, which I appreciate. I just can’t seem to get over how dull the lyrics are.
January 26, 2011 at 7:46 am Permalink
Great review.
January 26, 2011 at 2:09 pm Permalink
…if you’re looking for a country station and your auto-tuner stops in the middle of this song, you push the button straight away again, just to hear it finding – hello world.
i belong to those, who find it quite hard not to have fiddle and steel in an awful lot of songs anymore – but not finding any country at all in them is asked a little too much.
this is some of the biggest crap i’ve ever heard under the name of country and i don’t care, if it’s sung well or god knows what. it’s pointless and useless – it’s hopeless fluff polluting the airwaves, even though the title and lyrics suggest otherwise.
January 26, 2011 at 2:48 pm Permalink
I have to admit I’m kind of over Rascal Flatts at this point. Yes, it’s sung well. But I’m just getting tired of cliche inspirational/romantic/love ballads from artists in general. I may like the song for about a week and then it’s taken off my play list for good. Maybe I’m just a cynic. Who knows.
January 26, 2011 at 3:34 pm Permalink
For a while there, I thought RF hit an inescapable rut. With their last two albums being their worst efforts, this album and this sends us back to the begining of the Flatts. I hope this album signifys a starting over of their career and a return to the top of country music’s best vocal group.
January 26, 2011 at 3:47 pm Permalink
I’m liking it so far, sounds like it is the best they have done since Me and My Gang era.
January 26, 2011 at 4:11 pm Permalink
This song, like many others from these wonderful men, was beautifully sand and the lyrics were exactly what I needed to hear…they usually have this effect on me. I WILL BE A FAN FOR LIFE. GOD BLESS YOU RASCAL FLATTS!
January 26, 2011 at 4:30 pm Permalink
Terribly over-dramatic song that isn’t sung as well as they’re capable of. This track is a major “lunchbag letdown” for me after the relative awesomeness that was Why Wait. Just when I thought they were turning a corner back to respectability….they go and do this. Booooo!
January 27, 2011 at 2:20 am Permalink
Awful. When this comes on I turn. I wish they’d just dissapear and i’d like my radio a lot better.
January 27, 2011 at 8:30 am Permalink
I agree with Steve! Their music really gags me!
January 27, 2011 at 6:30 pm Permalink
Well, Steve and Gloria, the hundreds of thousands of us who flock to RF concerts each year would tend to DISAGREE with you.
Sorry. (Read: Not sorry)
January 28, 2011 at 6:11 am Permalink
Rascal Flatts haters are the same as Nickelback haters. They hate on anyone who has any success. I give the haters no thought anymore.
I’ve loved all of Rascal Flatts music but they did get a little predictable, safe, and they leave the best tracks as album tracks.
January 28, 2011 at 7:41 am Permalink
Yes, they are. Both bands are hated because they made poor quality music and keep releasing the same song over and over. And both bands are less popular than pickles.
January 28, 2011 at 8:44 am Permalink
With regard to Rascal Flatts, I do tend to agree with the general opinions expressed on these blog sites. If you don’t think the Flatts are any good, that’s one thing, but it’s hard to make a case for them not being popular. Just look at their sales numbers.
January 28, 2011 at 8:48 am Permalink
That was a joke.
http://www.allfacebook.com/nickelback-loses-facebook-popularity-battle-to-random-pickle-2010-02
January 28, 2011 at 10:14 am Permalink
Ohhh, I see. Sorry, it went over my head.
January 28, 2011 at 11:14 pm Permalink
I too am of the opinion that, while the songwriting is just way too wafer-thin and Hallmark card predictable to justify giving this a final verdict of Thumbs Up (I think it’s a given this will have a fleeting quality with virtually all listeners and that lack of staying power/impressionability alone makes it Thumbs Up-proof in my view)—–I nonetheless agree that LeVox offers one of his finer vocal performances and the production is appeasing—–and so the song is also Thumbs Down-proof to me.
It’s just a predictable, yet well-executed, Thumbs Sideways type of song.
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