Old Dominion has admitted the tequila was flowing the day they wrote and recorded their latest hit, “I Was on a Boat That Day,” while sequestered in Asheville, North Carolina.
They’ve even copped to the fact that the title was a longtime joke they’d throw out anytime they couldn’t think of something to write.
But what about being “drunk as a skunk eating lunch with a cross-eyed bear?” Lead singer Matthew Ramsey has a perfectly rational explanation for the most unusual lyric.
“Sometimes when you’re writing, you know the phrasing that you want,” the accomplished songwriter says. “You know the sound that you want and the rhythm that you want. And so sometimes it just takes like throwing stuff out there, like, ‘I wish it was something like this’ or ‘I wish it had this cadence.'”
“And I remember I said, ‘I was drunk as a skunk eating lunch with a cross-eyed bear,'” he continues. “That just came out. I don’t know why. It was the rhythm that I heard.”
The odd lyric might’ve gotten replaced, but OD’s longtime co-writer/producer Shane McAnally wouldn’t let it go.
“Everybody’s like — Shane in particular, was like, ‘I know you were joking, but that is the line. No discussion. That is what we’re going with,'” Matthew remembers, as the rest of the band dissolves into laughter.
“It’s got like a Roger Miller kinda thing to it?” Trevor Rosen suggests, as his bandmates agree.
The Country Music Hall of Famer’s hits like “Chug-a-Lug,” “Do-Wacka-Do,” and “You Can’t Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd” suggest OD may not be as off in left field as it might’ve seemed.
The CMA and ACM Group of the Year has also hinted there may more similar fun on their upcoming album.
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