Allan was born and raised in La Mirada, California, to Harley and Mary Herzberg. To ensure that the family would focus on music, Allan's mother insisted that the family's guitars would always remain visible in the home. At age thirteen, Allan began playing in honky tonks with his father. Two years later, he was offered his first recording contract, from A&M Records, but rejected the deal. His parents wanted him to finish his education and his father felt that Allan had yet to develop his own distinctive style. Despite his commitment to finishing school, Allan reflects that he was rarely alert in class. "I played the bars at night, I was half asleep when I got to school. I thought sleep was what you did when you got to school." After finishing school, he continued to play in the bars with his band, the Honky Tonk Wranglers. Many of the venues they played were packed, and promoters often tried to move them to larger clubs. The moves would have required him to stop playing some of the older country music, such as covers of George Jones songs, so Allan refused.
Allan was introduced to songwriter/producer Byron Hill on August 28, 1993 by a mutual friend and talent-scout Jim Seal at a bar called the Lion D'or in Downey, California, where Allan was already regularly performing. Seal and Hill had asked Allan if they could showcase an unsigned act that they were developing there. Hill had arranged to bring the head of A&R from a major label to the show to see this other act perform. Allan kindly let them use his stage for the event, giving the new act the opening performance slot that night. Hill promised Gary that they would make sure the A&R person remained there to see his portion of the show. Everyone was knocked out with Allan's performance, and very impressed with his voice. From that point on, Hill began sending Allan songs. Without any serious funding at the time, Hill arranged for Allan to go into Seal's small studio in California to try his vocals on some of existing demo tracks that Hill had sent to Allan from Nashville, Tennessee. Meanwhile, Hill became head of A&R at BNA Entertainment on October 29 of that same year and immediately wanted to sign Allan to BNA, but the then current roster conditions and other circumstances related to the planned restructuring of RCA/BNA Nashville stood in the way.
In the meantime, Allan took a job selling cars. He left a demo tape in the glove box of a car purchased by a wealthy couple. When the couple discovered that he was the singer, they wrote him a check for $12,000. This independent funding allowed Allan to go to Nashville to record some of the songs that were on that early demo tape with Hill as producer. On September 11, 1995, they worked at Javelina Studios for a couple of days on the four songs that Hill immediately showed to labels. Allan's recordings brought serious responses from several labels including Mercury, RCA, and Decca. A meeting was then held at a Nashville hotel among Hill, Allan, and friend of Allan's, who was a program director for a radio station in California, to arrange two showcases in Los Angeles, California, to put Allan on stage at two of the radio station's regular nights at a local club. Byron arranged for staffers at the Nashville office of Decca Records to attend the first showcase held on November 1, 1995. Decca immediately wanted to sign Allan, and knowing that Byron was lining up other labels to see Gary, Decca asked them to cancel the second showcase. A rep from RCA was already booked to see the second showcase the following week, but the "bird-in-hand" deal offer was too tempting for both Hill and Allan, so they committed to the Decca offer.
His first deal, with Decca Records Nashville, produced the 1996 album Used Heart for Sale. The album was named "Best of the Month" by Stereo Review. It advanced to the top 20 of the charts, and produced a Top 10 country hit with the track Her Man (previously recorded by Waylon Jennings). Other tracks from the album, however, proved less successful.
His second album, It Would Be You, was released in 1998. Although Allan had been writing songs since he was a teenager, he does not hesitate to bump his work from his albums in favor of those written by other songwriters he respects. For his second album, Allan replaced one of his songs with No Judgement Day, written by Allen Shamblin. Although the song was a hidden acoustic track, radio stations began giving it heavy airplay. The song tells the story of a shopkeeper in Texas, whose children killed him in search of money. The title track of the album became Allan's second top 10 hit of the year, remaining in the top 10 after 21 weeks of radio play, "way beyond the tenure of most disposable radio hits." At the beginning of 1999, Decca Records folded, and when Allan moved to the parent label, MCA Nashville, It Would Be You was left in limbo.
In 1999, Allan released Smoke Rings in the Dark, an album he recorded while in the midst of a divorce from his second wife, Versace model Danette Day, after only seven months of marriage. Unlike his first two albums, Smoke Rings in the Dark made fuller use of background singers and stringed instruments, "resulting in a lusher, fuller sound." The new album avoided the "devil-may-care brashness" of the first two, instead presenting a tone balanced between youthful optimism and "the knowledge that some of life's experiences exact a high toll." Smoke Rings in the Dark was certified platinum, and it included two successful singles.
In 2001 the album Alright Guy was released. It contained the singles The One, Man of Me, and Man to Man, the latter of which became his first Billboard No. 1 hit. The same year, Allan married for the third time, to Angela, a flight attendant he met on an airplane.
Despite his previous success and eight years in the music business, Allan was nominated for the Country Music Association's Horizon Award, typically given to newcomers, in 2003. The same year he released his fifth album, See If I Care. Allan had to fight to keep the title, which he felt epitomized his attitude towards the music business, that he would continue to make the music that he wanted to make regardless of whether the record label chose to back him or people chose to buy the album. See If I Care included his second and third Number One singles, Tough Little Boys and Nothing On but the Radio. Songs About Rain was a top 15 hit.
In 2003, Allan and his wife, Angela Herzberg, moved to Tennessee from California. On October 25, 2004, Angela Herzberg committed suicide after suffering from depression and migraines. Allan initially put his career on hold, but soon turned to music to deal with the loss of his wife. This resulted in 2005's "heart-wrenchingly personal album," Tough All Over. He included several songs which he wrote or cowrote, including Puttin' Memories Away and I Just Got Back from Hell, which dealt directly with his grief. Several years later, Gary discussed his wife's suicide on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Tough All Over sold over 99,000 copies in its first week, debuting at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the magazine's Top Country Albums chart. It was subsequently certified gold by the RIAA as of December 20, 2006, and contained the top 10 singles Best I Ever Had (written by Vertical Horizon's Matt Scannell) and Life Ain't Always Beautiful, co-written by country singer Cyndi Thomson (under the name Cyndi Goodman).
Allan's first Greatest Hits collection was released on March 6, 2007. A Number One album on the Billboard Top Country Albums charts, the album reprised the greatest hits from his first six albums, as well as two new songs. One of these, titled A Feelin' Like That, was co-written by David Lee Murphy and Ira Dean (the latter a former member of Trick Pony); the single peaked at #12 on the country singles charts.
Allan's album titled Living Hard, was released on October 23, 2007. Serving as its lead-off single was the song Watching Airplanes, which spent more than thirty weeks on the country charts, where it reached a peak of #2 and went #1 on the Mediabase Chart. The song's music video was filmed during live concerts, including one at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. Second single Learning How to Bend – co-written by Allan – quickly became another hit song, peaking at #13. The video was filmed during a live performance at the House of Blues in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Following this song is third single She's So California, which Allan co-wrote with Jaime Hanna (of Hanna-McEuen) and Jon Randall, and it peaked at #24, becoming his first single to miss the top 20 since Lovin' You Against My Will in 2000.
Today was released on June 12, 2009, serving as the lead-off single to Allan's studio album, Get Off on the Pain, which was released on March 9, 2010. Title track, Get Off on the Pain, was the album's second single. It debuted at #42 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, the highest-debuting single of his career. Kiss Me When I'm Down the album's third single released to radio in 2010. It debuted at #52 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
http://www.garyallan.com/pain/
Lovin
Gary Allan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Don't want to make nobody cry
I don't want to do wrong, I don't want to do wrong
I don't want to tell no lies
I'm lovin' you, lovin' you against my will
Lovin' you, lovin' you against my will
I don't want to hear the phone ring
I don't want to come to you, I don't want to come to you
I don't want to give in this time
Girl, I'm lovin' you, lovin' you against my will
Your love is like a deep dark river
Pullin' me out to sea
The harder I try to resist you
The weaker I seem to be
I don't want to turn down your side street
I don't want to pull in your drive
Don't want to see you standin' there, don't want to see you standin' there
Don't want to see that look in your eyes
Girl, I'm lovin' you, lovin' you against my will
Your love is like a deep dark river
Pullin' me out to sea
The harder I try to resist you
The weaker I seem to be
I don't want to feel your heartbeat
I don't want to taste your kiss
I don't want to call your name, I don't want to call your name
I don't want to want you like this
Girl, I'm lovin' you, lovin' you against my will
Lovin' you, lovin' you against my will
Gary Allan's song "Lovin' You Against My Will" is about a conflicted individual who is in love with someone against their will. The first verse suggests that the singer does not intend to hurt anyone or make them cry, nor does he want to lie to the person he is singing about. However, he is still loving them, even though he does not want to. The second verse talks about how the singer does not want to hear the person's voice on the phone, nor does he want to give in to his feelings this time. He is against what he is feeling.
The chorus repeats that he is loving someone against his will. The singer of the song tries to fight the pull of the woman he loves by saying that he does not want to turn down her side street or see her standing there with a look in her eyes. He tries to resist her love, but in the end, it is a losing battle. The bridge of the song metaphorically compares the woman's love to a deep, dark river pulling him out to sea. The final verse suggests that the singer does not want to feel the woman's heartbeat, taste her kiss, or call her name because he does not want to want her like he does, but he cannot help himself.
Overall, "Lovin' You Against My Will" is a song that explores the complexity of human emotions and how we can sometimes find ourselves in situations where we love someone against our better judgement.
Line by Line Meaning
I don't want to hurt nobody
I don't want to cause pain to anyone
Don't want to make nobody cry
I don't want to make anyone cry
I don't want to do wrong, I don't want to do wrong
I don't want to do anything wrong
I don't want to tell no lies
I don't want to lie
I'm lovin' you, lovin' you against my will
I am in love with you even though I don't want to be
Lovin' you, lovin' you against my will
I am in love with you even though I don't want to be
I don't want to hear the phone ring
I don't want to receive any calls
Don't want to hear your voice on the line
I don't want to hear your voice on the phone
I don't want to come to you, I don't want to come to you
I don't want to see you
I don't want to give in this time
I don't want to give in to my feelings this time
Girl, I'm lovin' you, lovin' you against my will
I am in love with you even though I don't want to be
Your love is like a deep dark river
Your love is strong and pulling me towards you
Pullin' me out to sea
Your love is taking me away
The harder I try to resist you
The more I try to fight my feelings for you
The weaker I seem to be
The more vulnerable I become
I don't want to turn down your side street
I don't want to walk down your street or pathway
I don't want to pull in your drive
I don't want to enter your property
Don't want to see you standin' there, don't want to see you standin' there
I don't want to see you or face my feelings for you
Don't want to see that look in your eyes
I don't want to see the look of love in your eyes
Your love is like a deep dark river
Your love is strong and pulling me towards you
Pullin' me out to sea
Your love is taking me away
The harder I try to resist you
The more I try to fight my feelings for you
The weaker I seem to be
The more vulnerable I become
I don't want to feel your heartbeat
I don't want to feel your pulse
I don't want to taste your kiss
I don't want to taste your lips
I don't want to call your name, I don't want to call your name
I don't want to say your name or express my feelings for you
I don't want to want you like this
I don't want to desire you like this
Girl, I'm lovin' you, lovin' you against my will
I am in love with you even though I don't want to be
Lovin' you, lovin' you against my will
I am in love with you even though I don't want to be
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JAMIE O'HARA
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@janellemunson2272
Still listening. He is amazing. That voice and the emoting he does; goes straight to the heart
@GrayAllanmusic509
Thanks so very much for your love and support towards me beautiful fan🙏…. Where are you from
@peggydoiron1067
His voice & the way he turns a frase, so sexy. Gary you are a total turn on 🔥
@chrisburris5751
Gary is one of the most underrated country singers out there but belongs up there just like Garth, Alan, George and all others! You rock Bud!
@dochunt5496
Chris Burris Gary is from or out of Bakersfield CA. Buck Owens trained him and started his career off. Unfortunately his first wife killed herself and it effected Gary for a while. He is a great man
@josephberner4973
Chris Burris yes he is.
@michealcrowley6772
Go
@lisaann7831
AMEN!!!!! 💖😍💖😍💖😍💖
@lisaann7831
@@dochunt5496 It wasn't his first wife, it was his second Angela who was an airline stewardess. First one was model Danette Day.
@stevenfox1339
"Smoke Rings in the Dark" and "Loving you against my Will" touch my soul like few other songs do.