One of the best country songs ever written.
Larry Fleet does not miss, and this cover is no exception. While I could listen to Larry Fleet sing with a full band behind him all day, nothing hits like the beauty of him in front of a microphone with an acoustic guitar. He truly has one of the most underrated voices in the business – it’s as smooth as butter.
Over the last few months, Fleet has slowly released videos of him singing some of his favorite covers. Some of the past releases include Alice in Chain’s “Nutshell,” Morgan Wallen and Eric Church’s “Man Made A Bar” (which Fleet actually wrote), and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “All I Can Do Is Write About It.” Each video performance is somehow better than the last, as he keeps the integrity of each song while still adding his spin to make it his own.
One of the most recent ones we have been drooling over is his cover of Chris Knight’s “Enough Rope.” Chris Knight released the single in 2006, the title track of his album from the same year, and since then, it’s served as a timeless example of masterful country music songwriting. Just so profoundly hopeless, it’s the epitome of sad, working-class country music storytelling.
Knight noted when the single was released that the song was inspired by a friend he grew up playing Little League baseball with and grew up to work for the city. The lyrics detail the hopeless story of a man who is just barely getting by, living and working in a small town and raising a family with his wife. He just goes through the motions day by day, which despite being utterly soulless, it’s implied that it keeps him from stumbling into the vices others in his community undoubtedly have fallen victim to. His only comfort is sipping down a few beers at a local bar, where he can, if only for a moment, forget about his own existence.
“Well I’m thankful for the things I have
And all the things I don’t
And I’ve got dreams that will come true
And I’ve got some that won’t
Most the time I just walk the line wherever it goes
‘Cuz you can’t hang yourself if you ain’t got enough rope.”
Larry Fleet’s take on this song is spot on. The emotion in his vocal delivery captivates you from the first note, and the simplicity of the melody lets his vocals and the lyrics shine.
And of course, the original:
