Singer-songwriter Todd Snider tells a funny story about his song “Beer Run” and how his song may or may not have been co-opted by other songwriters. A song with a similar title as Snider’s song was later recorded by Garth Brooks and George Jones.
Having heard both songs, I initially thought the George Jones and Garth Brooks song was a cover of the Todd Snider song. But it is a different song.
Todd Snider’s “Beer Run”
First, check out Todd Snider’s “Beer Run.” Snider’s song appeared on his 2001 album New Connection, and a live version of the song appears on his 2002 CD Near Truths and Hotel Rooms.
This Todd Snider version is from March 2007, with Snider performing at Front Porch House Concerts in Boulder Colorado.
The Garth Brooks and George Jones “Beer Run”
In 2001, Garth Brooks and George Jones recorded their version of the song called “Beer Run.” The Garth Brooks song appeared on Brooks’s 2001 album Scarecrow, and it was written by Kent Blazy, Kim Williams, Amanda Williams, Keith Anderson, and George Ducas.
Like Snider’s song, the Garth Brooks one uses spelling of the phrase (“B double E double are you in” [get it? r-u-n]) in the chorus.
And here is George Jones joining Garth Brooks singing “Beer Run”:
Even though George Jones is one of the greatest singers of all-time, the Todd Snider song “Beer Run” is much superior to the other version, at least in my estimation.
Todd Snider’s Response
But what does Snider think about the rip-off of his song? In the video below, after telling the funny story of the two songs, Snider shows how he can play the same game.
Thus, Snider sings “his” new song that just happens to have a similar title to “If Tomorrow Never Comes,” one of Garth Brooks’s recordings that Brooks wrote with Kent Blazy (one of the “Beer Run” songwriters). The video is from the same March 2007 Colorado performance as above.
Although at one point, both sides thought the other side stole “Beer Run,” they eventually agreed to assume they both were written independently. Snider did later have a brief encounter with Blazy about the song.
But Snider has no animosity toward Garth Brooks. The superstar treated Snider well when he planned to use one of Snider’s songs for his Chris Gaines project.
Which “Beer Run” do you prefer? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
(1996) is a great live album. More recently, Ingram got a trendy haircut and had more commercial success with songs like “
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calls it the “slightest composition” on Time Out of Mind. In Still on the Road, Clinton Heylin claims that the song shows Dylan’s inability to emulate Tin Pan Alley and that the song “truly belonged” on the Billy Joel album. Critics of the cover artists and shows like American Idol might argue that those artists reflect the poor quality of the song. They are wrong.
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, Oliver Trager says that the song “is at best a lament for, or at worst a creepy plea to, an unattainable woman from a man getting more desperate by the minute.” He also points out that some have interpreted the song as being about the relationship between humans and Christ (“I could hold you for a million years”).
