“Hope on the Rocks” is just that, an ice cold beer after a long day, wine at dinner, or tequila to drown out your worries. Toby Keith gives you an album with as much variety. Sometimes its emotional, sometimes it’s a bit sexual, and other time it’s quite humorous.
The album starts off with the self-titled song, “Hope on the Rocks” which leads you to the more emotional side of Keith’s heart on the album. It’s a collection of troubled bodies that go to alcohol to numb the pain. The title is metaphorically astounding. A runaway, a suicide attempt and divorcees are the victims of the of Keith’s intro to his album of booze. For me, it was a great way of getting my attention, not because of the alcohol, but because of the pain Keith portrays. How different people are going through different things, but in all these scenarios the cure their worries with alcohol, or how Keith poetically puts it, hope on the rocks.
The next few songs are more of the partying side of drinking. “The size I wear” pertains to two buddies going out to a bar and picking up girls. Another toss one back type of song is “I Like Girls That Drink Beer”. It’s a fun song, with a little bit of humor. “You can keep your mansion and your money, your boat and your Benz, and your uptown friends. And your country club that ain’t really country” Lines like that keep the song witty and yet somehow, believable.
When it comes to a more fast paced song on the album, my personal favorite with that special kind of twang is “Haven’t Had a Drink all Day.” It’s catchy, funny and ironic. The whole album is based on alcohol, in some sort of way, every song relates back to it. Throughout the entire song Keith sticks to “I got stoned this morning, but I haven’t had a drink all day.” Which, well, is still Hope on the rocks themed in a sense, but obviously not in an alcohol way. The line is stuck throughout the entire son, making you believe it’s not about booze, until the end when Mr. Keith hits you with him coming back home to his girlfriend and she says, “Said I got drunk this morning but I haven’t been stoned all day.” The irony of the song makes me love it so much.
The next track on the album is “Haven’t seen the last of you.” That’s when it gets emotional again. Keith brings heartbreak into Hope on the Rocks. “I’ll have these memories of you in my mind if I don’t go insane And I’ll dream about you girl if I don’t lie here wide-awake” and Keith goes on to say, “It’s done but I’m not through Staring at the ceiling I got a feeling, I haven’t seen the last of you.” We’ve all been there and we’ve all felt these lyrics. It’s over, but you know it’s not. Yeah, this song has nothing to do with alcohol, but man it’s heartfelt. Which somewhat leads into two tracks down on the album, “Missed you Just Right.”
“Missed you Just Right” is a perfect sequel to “Haven’t seen the Last of you” by leading the first lines of the song as “I knew I’d run into you someday out there somewhere.” Even though it is about moving on, but not completely letting go, it still pertains to one another. This is my favorite song on the entire album. It all flows and the emotion behind it can make a listener empathetic.
Toby Keith sets an alcohol themed album, the negatives, the positives and all the love and pain in between. When it comes to country, this just about does it. It’s heartfelt and gets down to the nitty-gritty, and it’s also funny and lively. Keith can either get the party started, help you crash the party, or be the emotional drunk at the party. Toby Keith is a character and it’s portrayed very well in this album. Overall, if you’re a country fan, or even a Toby Keith fan, give “Hope on the Rocks” a shot—I know you’ll enjoy it.
