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/
Mess Me Up
Gary Allan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Come on make it hurt
Make me go out in a field
Light a fire and just watch it burn
Stand me up on a Friday night
Tell me you love me then tell me that you've changed your mind
Mess me up
Keep me up
All night thinking that every headlight I see might be some car that you're in
Call my phone and hang up
Leave me here wonderin' what
In the hell you keep doin'
Yeah, ruin me
Girl, mess me up
Make me punch the wall
Make me slam a few doors
Kiss some stranger just 'cause she had eyes that were kinda like yours
Just show up
Then spend the night
Leave your coat, leave no note, girl, be gone by the daylight
Mess me up
Make me drink too much wine and get out my guitar around two in the morning
Keep me up
All night thinking that every headlight I see might be some car that you're in
Call my phone and hang up
Leave me here wonderin' what
In the hell you keep doin'
Yeah, ruin me
Girl, mess me up
Baby, don't take it easy on me
I guess this is how it's gotta be
I want what I want
I don't care if it's not what I need
Mess me up
Come on, mess me up
Mess me up
Make me drink too much wine and get out my guitar around two in the morning
Keep me up
All night thinking that every headlight I see might be some car that you're in
Call my phone and hang up
Leave me here wonderin' what
In the hell you keep doin'
Yeah, ruin me
Girl, mess me up
Mess me up
Come on, mess me up
Mess me up
The lyrics to Gary Allan's song "Mess Me Up" depict a person who is willingly allowing themselves to be emotionally and physically damaged by someone they love. The singer is desperately seeking the pain and chaos caused by this person as a way to cope with their own emotions and deal with the loss. They are asking to be hurt, to have their heartbroken repeatedly, and to be pushed to their limits. The repetitiveness of the lyrics emphasizes their yearning for this destructive relationship, as they repeatedly ask to be messed up, drunk, and kept awake all night. They even express a desire for the person to tease them by calling and hanging up, leaving them in agony and confusion.
The singer is aware that this is not healthy or rational behavior, and they acknowledge that they should want what they need, not just what they want. However, they can't seem to resist the allure of the pain and the chaos that this person brings into their life. It's a masochistic desire to feel alive through the torment caused by this person, even though deep down, they know it's not healthy for them.
Overall, "Mess Me Up" explores the complex emotions that can exist within toxic relationships, where individuals willingly subject themselves to emotional and physical harm, craving the intensity and turmoil they bring.
Line by Line Meaning
Twist that knife
Continue to inflict emotional pain on me
Come on make it hurt
Intensify the pain and suffering you cause me
Make me go out in a field
Force me to face my emotions in isolation
Light a fire and just watch it burn
Enjoy witnessing the destruction and chaos caused by our relationship
Stand me up on a Friday night
Cancel plans and leave me feeling abandoned and disappointed
Tell me you love me then tell me that you've changed your mind
Play with my emotions by expressing affection but then retracting it, causing confusion and heartbreak
Mess me up
Deliberately cause emotional and psychological damage to me
Make me drink too much wine and get out my guitar around two in the morning
Induce me to drown my sorrows in excessive alcohol and seek solace in music during the late hours of the night
Keep me up
Ensure that I am unable to sleep, consumed by thoughts of you
All night thinking that every headlight I see might be some car that you're in
Fool me into believing that every passing car could potentially contain you, constantly keeping me on edge
Call my phone and hang up
Play mind games by repeatedly calling and abruptly ending the call, leaving me confused and longing for answers
Leave me here wonderin' what
Leave me in a state of perpetual uncertainty and confusion
In the hell you keep doin'
Question the intentions and motives behind your actions
Yeah, ruin me
Destroy and devastate me emotionally
Girl, mess me up
Addressing the person directly, imploring them to continue causing emotional harm
Make me punch the wall
Drive me to express my anger and frustration through physical violence
Make me slam a few doors
Compel me to release my pent-up emotions by forcefully shutting doors
Kiss some stranger just 'cause she had eyes that were kinda like yours
Engage in impulsive and meaningless interactions with others who vaguely resemble you in the hopes of finding solace and familiarity
Just show up
Appear unexpectedly without forewarning or explanation
Then spend the night
Stay with me for a brief period of time
Leave your coat, leave no note, girl, be gone by the daylight
Disappear without leaving any trace or explanation, vanishing before morning
Baby, don't take it easy on me
Requesting the person to continue inflicting emotional pain without holding back
I guess this is how it's gotta be
Acknowledging that this turbulent and destructive relationship is unavoidable
I want what I want
Admitting to selfish desires and cravings
I don't care if it's not what I need
Being indifferent to the fact that what is desired may not be beneficial or necessary
Come on, mess me up
Encouraging the person to continue causing emotional damage
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Shane L McAnally, Ross Copperman, Ashley Gorley
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
sally c
GARY ALLAN (2017) – MESS ME UP (Traducción)
Twist that knife
Retuerce ese cuchicho
Come on make it hurt
Venga haz que duela
Make me go out in a field
Hazme salir al campo
Light a fire and just watch it burn
Prende un fuego y sencillamente obsérvalo arder
Stand me up on a Friday night
Dame plantón un viernes por la noche
Tell me you me love then tell me that you've changed your mind
Dime que me amas, luego dime que has cambiado de opinión
Mess me up
Hazme un lío
Make me drink too much wine and
Hazme beber demasiado vino y
Get out my guitar around two in the morning
Sacar mi guitarra a eso de las dos de la mañana
Keep me up
Tenme en vela
All night thinking that every headlight I see
Toda la noche pensando que cada faro que veo
Might be some car that you're in
Podría ser el de algún coche en el que estás
Call my phone and hang up
Llámame por teléfono y cuélgame
Leave me here wonderin' what
Déjame aquí preguntándome
In the hell you keep doin'
Qué demonios sigues haciendo
Yeah, ruin me girl
Sí, sé mi perdición nena
Mess me up
Hazme un lío
Make me punch the wall
Hazme dar un puñetazo a la pared
Make me slam a few doors
Hazme dar unos cuantos portazos
Kiss some stranger just 'cause she had eyes that were kinda like yours
Besar a alguna desconocida simplemente porque tenía unos ojos parecidos a los tuyos
Just show up
Sólo aparece
Then spend the night
Luego pasa la noche
Leave your coat, leave no note, girl, be gone by the daylight
Deja tu abrigo, no dejes ninguna nota, nena, desaparece a la luz del día
Keep me up
Tenme en vela
All night thinking that every headlight I see
Toda la noche pensando que cada faro que veo
Might be some car that you're in
Podría ser el de algún coche en el que estás
Call my phone and hang up
Llámame por teléfono y cuélgame
Leave me here wonderin' what
Déjame aquí preguntándome
In the hell you keep doin'
Qué demonios sigues haciendo
Yeah, ruin me girl
Sí, sé mi perdición nena
Mess me up
Hazme un lío
Baby, don't take it easy on me
Cariño, no me lo pongas fácil
I guess this is how it's gotta be
Supongo que es así como tiene que ser
I want what I want
Quiero lo que quiero
I don't care if it's not what I need
No me importa si no es lo que necesito
Mess me up
Hazme un lío
Come on, mess me up
Venga, hazme un lío
Mess me up
Hazme un lío
Make me drink too much wine and
Hazme beber demasiado vino y
Get out my guitar around two in the morning
Sacar mi guitarra a eso de las dos de la mañana
Keep me up
Tenme en vela
All night thinking that every headlight I see
Toda la noche pensando que cada faro que veo
Might be some car that you're in
Podría ser el de algún coche en el que estás
Call my phone and hang up
Llámame por teléfono y cuélgame
Leave me here wonderin' what
Déjame aquí preguntándome
In the hell you keep doin'
Qué demonios sigues haciendo
Yeah, ruin me girl
Sí, sé mi perdición nena
Mess me up
Hazme un lío
Mess me up
Hazme un lío
Come on, mess me up
Venga, hazme un lío
Mess me up
Hazme un lío
Michelle Diaco
Been a fan since the beginning. Seen him in concert several times. I cannot get enough of him.
Sully Erna
Hello, how are you today? It’s nice to meet you here.
Senga
Absolutely brilliant lyrics and sung so beautifully, by the, one and only, Gary Allen! Amazing artist and love every album from you! XX 😘
Barb Copeland
What can Gary Allan not sing that just Grasps you, His voice is so Contagious, it’s Pure Magical. He will always, always be my very favourite. I love and adore him 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼🙌🏻💙🙏🏻
Fred.L.Honest🕊️
Hello Barb.m
Mark wills
Hello, how are you doing today? Thanks for your love and support❤️ ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Shawna B
All I have to say is... I Love Gary Allan❤️ All his songs inspire me❤️ I’m a forever fan!!
Guenther Stahl
Same here I am a forever fan and have loved his music for over twenty years, and will love it 😍 probably until I die!
Patty Herrera
I totally agree.
Mark wills
Hello, how are you doing today? Thanks for your love and support❤️ ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤