"Eight Second Ride" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer

Jake Owen Joshua Ryan Owen (born August 28, 1981), known professionally as Jake Owen, is an American country music singer. Signed to RCA Nashville in 2006, he released his debut studio album, '' Startin' with Me'', that year. This album produced three ...

. It was released in June 2009 as the fifth single of Owen's career, and the second single from his second album, '' Easy Does It'' (2009). Owen had previously recorded the song on his 2006 debut album, ''

Startin' with Me ''Startin' with Me'' is the debut studio album by American country music artist Jake Owen, released in July 2006 (see 2006 in country music) on RCA Records Nashville. Singles released from the album include "Yee Haw", the title track, and "Someth ...

''. Co-written with Eric Durrance, the song is about a man having sex with a woman from a bar in his pickup truck. The song received mixed reviews from critics who questioned the production and lyrical content. "Eight Second Ride" peaked at number 11 on the ''Billboard''

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chart and number 70 on the

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chart. The song was certified

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by the

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(RIAA), denoting sales of over half-a-million units in that country.

Content

"Eight Second Ride" is an up-tempo in which the male narrator meets a female in a bar, then takes her out to his

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a Truck_classification#Table_of_US_GVWR_classifications, light or medium duty truck that has an enclosed cabin (truck), cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (th ...

. The title is a reference to the eight-second time limit in

bull riding Bull riding is a rodeo sport that involves a rider getting on a bucking bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal tries to bucking, buck off the rider. American bull riding has been called "the most dangerous eight seconds in sports." ...

, which is used as a metaphor for sex. Owen had previously recorded the song on his 2006 debut album ''

'', and re-recorded it for his second album, 2009's '' Easy Does It''.

Critical reception

The song was met with mixed reviews from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

s. Kevin J. Coyne of Country Universe gave it a B+, saying that the song was a "work of fantasy" but that Owen's vocal performance made the song "enjoyable."

Jim Malec Jim Malec is an American journalist and pop music critic known for writing about country music. Malec attended State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, where he worked as an editor for the college's student newspaper and was involved in a cen ...

of The 9513 gave a thumbs-down, saying that the intro "bursts out of the gate" but calling the song's storyline "comically unrealistic." He also considered the title disconnected from the premise, because the rest of the song did not pertain to bull riding, and added that he considered it one of the worst single releases of the year. Michael Sudhalter of ''

Country Standard Time ''Country Standard Time'' is a website dedicated to country music and related genres including Americana, bluegrass and rockabilly. It provides news and musical reviews pertaining to the genre. It was established in 1993 by Jeffrey B. Remz as ...

'' also described the song negatively in his review of the album and questioned the decision to re-record it: "One wonders why a song with such an unmemorable melody and cheesy

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...

s made it on to one album, let alone two." In 2017, ''

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'' contributor

Chuck Dauphin Charles Frederick Dauphin III (February 17, 1974 – September 18, 2019) was an American sports and country music journalist. He was a radio broadcaster for WDKN in Dickson, Tennessee for 18 years, a radio show host and sports director at WNKX i ...

put "Eight Second Ride" at number six on his top 10 list of Owen's songs.

Music video

Deaton-Flanigen Productions Deaton-Flanigen Productions is an American film company based in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., headed by Robert Deaton. The company has between 10 and 50 employees. Overview The company was named after the surnames of founders Robert Deaton III ...

directed and produced the song's

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

, which debuted on the television channel CMT (Country Music Television) in August 2009. The video stars Owen's future wife, model Lacey Buchanan from Winter Park, Florida.

Chart performance

On the week ending November 21, 2009, "Eight Second Ride" debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 95. The following week, it moved up to number 82 and reached number 70 in its fifth week on the chart, staying there for thirteen weeks.

References

{{authority control 2006 songs 2009 songs 2009 singles Jake Owen songs RCA Records Nashville singles Music videos directed by Deaton-Flanigen Productions Songs written by Jake Owen