"Shut Up and Drive" is a song written by Rivers Rutherford, Annie Tate, and Sam Tate, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

singer

Chely Wright Chely Wright (born Richell Rene Wright; October 25, 1970) is an American activist, author and country music artist. She initially rose to fame as a commercial country recording artist with several charting singles, including the number one hit, ...

. It was released in July 1997 as the first single from her album '' Let Me In'', her first album for MCA Nashville. The song brought Wright to the country top 40 for the first time, with a peak of #14 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs).

Content and history

Songwriters Annie and Sam Tate, who are husband and wife, co-wrote the song with Rivers Rutherford. Annie came up with the song's title and first verse, but she did not think that the idea had potential until presenting it to Sam. The two then took their ideas to Rutherford, who then came up with the chorus to help complete the song. "Shut Up and Drive" is composed in the key of

A-flat major A-flat major (or the key of A-flat) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has four flats. The A-flat major scale is: : Its relative minor is F minor. Its parallel minor, A-flat m ...

with a main chord pattern of A-D-A-E-A. The song features uncredited background vocals from

Trisha Yearwood Patricia Lynn Yearwood (born September 19, 1964) is an American singer, actress, author and television personality. She rose to fame with her 1991 debut single "She's in Love with the Boy," which became a number one hit on the '' Billboard'' c ...

Critical reception

Brian Wahlert 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 a ...

'' described the song favorably in his review of the album, saying that it "simmers with a combination of sympathy and quiet urgency until Wright wails demandingly on the chorus, 'I'm the voice you never listen to/And I had to break your heart to make you see.'"

Music video

The music video was directed by Charley Randazzo and premiered in mid-1997. It shows Wright performing the song in a loft, as well as her driving a VW Beetle Convertible through many sceneries. She is also seen getting ready to leave from her boyfriend, despite a locket on her steering wheel and picture of the two on the dash. Her boyfriend is seen waking up from a nap, possibly having heard the ignition start, and is confused when she drives away. A traffic jam scene is then shown, and as she patiently waits for it to clear, her boyfriend runs up to her car, but she finds an open lane and drives away, leaving him in the dust. It is then shown that he was the one that caused the jam, as several people get out of their cars and reprimand him, already ashamed of her breaking up with him.

Chart performance

With its number 14 peak on the U.S. country singles charts, "Shut Up and Drive" is Wright's first top 40 country hit. allmusic ((( Chely Wright > Biography )))/ref>

Charts

References

{{Chely Wright 1997 singles Chely Wright songs Songs written by Rivers Rutherford Song recordings produced by Tony Brown (record producer) MCA Nashville Records singles 1997 songs