"Beer for My Horses" | ||||
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Single by Toby Keith and Willie Nelson | ||||
from the album Unleashed | ||||
B-side | "Rock You Baby" | |||
Released | April 7, 2003 | |||
Recorded | 2002 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 3:24(album version) 3:31 ( Greatest Hits 2 version) | |||
Label | DreamWorks Records 450785 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Scotty Emerick Toby Keith | |||
Producer(s) | James Stroud Toby Keith | |||
Toby Keith singles chronology | ||||
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Willie Nelson singles chronology | ||||
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"Beer for My Horses" is a song recorded by American country music artists Toby Keith and Willie Nelson. It was written by Keith and Scotty Emerick for Keith's seventh studio album, Unleashed . The song was released as the album's fourth and final single on April 7,2003.
"Beer for My Horses" was extremely popular but received mixed reviews from music critics. The single reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100,making it Keith's highest charting song of his career at the time. The song also peaked at number one for six weeks in the US Billboard Hot Country Songs (one of two songs to stay that long at the top for Keith),becoming Keith's eleventh number one single and Nelson's twenty-third,and his first since "Nothing I Can Do About It Now" in 1989. "Beer for My Horses" was certified Platinum once by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The accompanying music video was directed by Michael Salomon and premiered on CMT on April 9,2003,during CMT Smash Hits of Country. [1]
"Beer for My Horses" also made Willie Nelson the oldest artist to top the country charts at age 70.
The phrase,"Whisky for me beer for my horse" is said in the 1975 film, Bite the Bullet ,by Jan-Michael Vincent.
The music video for the song features Keith,Nelson,and Corin Nemec,as detectives hunting a serial killer,played by Gregg Gilmore. The detectives eventually convince Nemec to dress up as a woman to lure the serial killer and they end up capturing him. The video,directed by Michael Salomon,was shot in downtown Los Angeles and at the nearby Golden Oak Ranch,in Newhall,California. It is also the first video in which Keith is not singing on screen. On March 4,2004,the video was nominated for Video of the Year for the Academy of Country Music Awards.
The 2008 film Beer for My Horses was based on the song,which was featured in the film. The film starred Keith and Nelson,among others. The song was also used in an episode of Lethal Weapon in 2016. [2] It won the award for Video of the Year in May later that year. [3]
In 2021,U.S. Representative Chip Roy of Texas caused controversy by unknowingly quoting a lyric from the song that seemed to invoke frontier justice while he was serving on a committee concerned about an increase in hate crimes towards Asian-Americans. [4] At the time Roy claimed the line was "an old saying in Texas" but later admitted it was from the Keith song. [5]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic found the song to be "absurdly anthemic". [6]
"Beer for My Horses" entered the Hot Country Singles &Tracks charts dated for the week ending August 3,2002,spending three weeks on the charts as an album cut and peaking at number 54. [7] It re-entered at #60 on the chart dated February 1,2003. On the Billboard Hot 100,it ended up peaking at number 22. Along with "Who's Your Daddy?",it was tied for Keith's highest peaking single on the chart until it was surpassed by "Red Solo Cup" in 2012. The song reached over a million in sales in April 2014. [8] As of January 2017,the song has sold 1,178,000 copies in the United States. [9]
Chart (2003) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [10] | 1 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [11] | 22 |
Chart (2003) | Position |
---|---|
US Country Songs ( Billboard ) [12] | 2 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United States (RIAA) [13] | 3× Platinum | 3,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
A film adaptation of the song entered production in mid-2008, [14] and was released on August 8, 2008. [15]
The song is available as downloadable content for the game Rock Band.
Toby Keith Covel was an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and businessman.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in 2004.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 2002.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 2003.
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"Hey, Good Lookin'" is a 1951 song written and recorded by Hank Williams, and his version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2003, CMT voted the Hank Williams version No. 19 on CMT's 100 Greatest Songs of Country Music. Since its original 1951 recording it has been covered by a variety of artists.
Unleashed is the seventh studio album by American country music artist Toby Keith. It was released on August 6, 2002 by DreamWorks Records. The album produced four hit singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs charts with "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue ", "Who's Your Daddy", "Rock You Baby", and "Beer for My Horses". "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue ", "Who's Your Daddy", and "Beer for My Horses" all reached number one while "Rock You Baby" peaked at number 13. The album was Keith's first to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was 4× Platinum by the RIAA for sales of four million copies in the United States.
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American country music singer Toby Keith released 21 studio albums and eight compilation albums. He released 70 singles, with 65 of them charting on the Billboard country chart; 54 reached the Top 40, 40 made the top 10, and 20 went to number one from 1993-2021.
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"I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Toby Keith. It was released on May 31, 2001 as the first single from his 2001 album Pull My Chain. The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart for the week of September 15, 2001. Keith wrote this song with Scotty Emerick.
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