And now the rest of us get to discover that magical place, starting with the chart-topping duo’s self-titled debut album. Fans began truly getting to know their way around Stoney Creek Records’ Thompson Square with the release of their GRAMMY nominated #1 Platinum+ radio smash, “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not,” a fitting introduction to the Thompsons’ natural chemistry and spirit of buoyant romance. iTunes’ Country Song of the Year (2011) grew meteorically to become the Most Played Song at Country Radio in 2011 (Mediabase) as well as reach the top of the Billboard Heat Seekers Chart. Additionally, “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” spent five consecutive weeks at #1 on the Country Digital Soundscan chart and 12 consecutive weeks as the #1 Country Ringtone.
Things have happened very quickly since then: Thompson Square earned three fan-voted American Country Awards for Single of the Year by a Group, Single of the Year by a New Artist and Music Video of the Year by a New Artist. “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” also earned two GRAMMY nominations for Best Country Song and Best Country Duo/ Group Performance of the Year.
In all, Thompson Square was nominated for 14 industry awards in 2011 also including an American Music Award nomination for New Artist of the Year; two 2011 CMA Awards nominations for Best New Artist and Vocal Duo of the Year and two CMT Music Awards nominations. The duo has played to over a million fans in the past year – by both having been rapturously received, as an opening act on superstar Jason Aldean’s tour and by packing high-energy shows of their own. They’ve seen the “Kiss Me” video become a favorite on CMT and GAC, even spending 12 consecutive weeks in the Top 5 of CMT’s Top 20 Countdown. They’ve earned a follow-up Top 10 hit with, “I Got You,” and traveled the national media circuit, performing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!, Conan, Fox & Friends, FOX’s All American Concert Series, the 45th Annual CMA Awards, FOX’s 2nd Annual American Country Awards, NBC’s “The Better Show,” and more. Thompson Square finishes the year as Billboard’s #1 New Country Artist in terms of its single (Hot 100) and album sales (Hot 200) charts. The duo was also named Mediabase’s New Country Artist of the Year, in terms of radio airplay. Thompson Square is taking Country music by storm once again with the duo’s emotionally-laden current single, “Glass,” hailed by The Washington Post as a “poignant meditation on human vulnerability,” a song which allows Shawna Thompson to show off her powerhouse vocals.
In 2012, Thompson Square dethroned superstars Sugarland to become the Academy of Country Music’s “Vocal Duo of the Year.” The win was historic -- Thompson Square became the first NEW Country music act in 20 years to break through and win the award a headlining, superstar duo.
The suddenness of their success belies the fact that—separately and together—Keifer and Shawna have been learning their craft in Nashville for a decade. “To see it paying off right now is elating,” Keifer says. “Every day I try to take a little time, soak it all in and say thanks.”
Now Music City is sharing with the rest of the world the pitch-perfect combination of Keifer’s soulful intensity and Shawna’s crystalline grace; her classic country upbringing and his wide-ranging singer-songwriter influences. Shawna grew up in tiny Chatom, Ala., learning traditional country songs from her guitar-playing father and soaking up the sounds of Reba McEntire and Alabama on the radio. Keifer was raised in Miami, Okla., where he was exposed to everything from Roger Miller and Merle Haggard to punk rock and heavy metal before finding his most profound influences in thoughtful tunesmiths like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty. Each moved to Nashville within the same week, and met at a singing competition a few days after hitting town. “I walked in and saw her, went right up and started talking to her,” Keifer recalls. “She beat me in pool, and that’s where it started.” Like Keifer, Shawna sensed a connection right away. “I knew immediately,” she says. “It sounds so cheesy, but it was a love at first sight thing for me.” Each had come to Music City intending to pursue a solo career, and for a few years that’s just what they did. “She was doing her own thing, and I was doing my thing,” Keifer says. “After a while it made sense to combine what we did. We looked at each other one day and said, ‘Maybe we should try to do this.’”
And so Thompson Square was born. They adjusted to the idea of combining the pressures of married life with a career choice that demanded near-constant togetherness. “A lot of couples can’t be together 24 hours a day—but for us it doesn’t work unless it’s like that,” Keifer points out. “It’s still like we’re dating, and we’ve been married for 11 years. We like to have fun, we like to laugh and we like to rock out—so that’s what we try to do.” The pieces truly began falling into place for Thompson Square in 2009, when manager Shawn Pennington caught the couple’s show at a Nashville club. Within days Thompson Square was performing for the staff at Stoney Creek Records, and before they knew it they were signing a contract. “This label has been amazing for us,” Keifer observes. “They’re making our dream come true right now.”
The first step in bringing that dream to life came when the duo hit the studio to record their debut album with their pals in the New Voice Entertainment production team (Kurt Allison, David Fanning, Tully Kennedy and Rich Redmond). “Doing it with your friends is different than having a big-name head-honcho guy that dismisses everything you say,” Keifer notes. “We all had a say-so. Every song on this album has a little bit of each of us on it.” Thompson Square and their producers sought and found stellar outside material, but much of Thompson Square is made up of Keifer’s own songs. “It was very important for me to have some original songs I wrote,” he says. “But we weren’t stupid—if there was a better song, we put it on there.”
The album seamlessly combines the twosome’s wide-ranging influences into a loose, lively and identifiable sound all their own. “There are songs that will make you laugh, make you dance, make you cry,” Keifer says. “We tried to touch upon the whole gamut of emotions.” The playful “Let’s Fight,” for instance, is an upbeat ode to friendly marital spats—and the ensuing reconciliations. “Shawna and I get along sometimes too good, because it’s hard to write sad songs about love lost when you’re not experiencing that,” quips Keifer. “But I thought it’d be cool to write a song saying, ‘Let’s fight and get things stirred up … and then make up!’” The Thompsons explore the endless dynamics of couplehood throughout the album, as in the opening rush of the ebullient “I Got You” and the muscular, mischievous “Getaway Car.” But they also explore the darker side of relationships, as on simmering ballads like the conciliatory “If It Takes All Night” and the fragile “Glass.” It’s just one way in which Thompson Square subverts the stereotype of the married couple singing sticky-sweet songs of devotion to one another. “We don’t want to do lovey-dovey songs,” Shawna declares. “This is real stuff.”
Every day now, more and more fans are getting a taste of that “real stuff” and deciding they like what they hear—and the Thompsons couldn’t be happier or more grateful. “A year ago we were bartending down on Broadway,” Keifer says. “To go from behind the bar to the other side of the world, it’s been difficult to grasp the magnitude of what’s going on. We just try to put out songs that we love, and we hope our fans will like them too. The rest is in God’s hands.”
# # #
I Got You
Thompson Square Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A crop's got rain, dirt and sun, to make 'em grow
A song's got rhyme, a clock's got time
You got me and baby
I got you
Yeah you're it, the missing piece that makes me fit
I got you, the breath I breathe, and there ain't nothing else I need
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I don't need a big ole house, full of stuff
What my arms are wrapped around, that's enough
Your morning smile, your kiss goodnight
And everything's alright
I got you
Yeah you're it, the missing piece that makes me fit
I got you, the breath I breathe, and there ain't nothing else I need
Baby I got you,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
When the right goes wrong
When I'm scared to death and got nothing left to lean on, 'cause
I got you
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah I do
Baby I got you
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, you got me to
I got you
Yeah you're it, the missing piece that makes me fit
I got you, the breath I breathe, and there ain't nothing else I need
Baby I got you,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah baby
I got you
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Baby I got you
Baby I got you
The lyrics to Thompson Square's song 'I Got You' speaks about the importance of love and companionship and how it's the one thing that makes everything else in the world make sense. The lyrics start off with simple comparisons to explain the role that love plays in life, 'A car's got gasoline to run, down the road, A crop's got rain, dirt, and sun to make 'em grow, A song's got rhyme, a clock's got time, You got me baby'. As the song progresses, the artist expresses that they don’t need any materialistic items, just the love and presence of the one they love because they are the missing piece that makes them feel complete. The chorus repeats this theme, reassuring the love of his life that he's all she needs, "I got you, the breath I breathe, and there ain't nothing else I need".
The second verse of the lyrics describes how the love of his life is his shelter during bad times, 'When the right goes wrong, When I'm scared to death and got nothing left to lean on, 'cause I got you'. The song explains how safe someone can feel when they have the love and support of a significant other. The chorus is repeated at the end of the song to drive home the message of love and companionship.
Overall, the lyrics are a beautiful ode to the importance of love and how it makes everything better. The artist lets the love of their life know that they are truly everything they need to be happy and feel successful.
Line by Line Meaning
A car's got gasoline to run, down the road
A car needs fuel to operate and move forward on the road
A crop's got rain, dirt and sun, to make 'em grow
The growth of crops depends on three things: water, soil and sunlight
A song's got rhyme, a clock's got time
A song has a pattern of words and sounds, while a clock measures the passage of time
You got me and baby
The artist is addressing their partner and saying that they have them
I don't need a big ole house, full of stuff
Possessing a grand house filled with possessions is not a requirement for happiness
What my arms are wrapped around, that's enough
Just having their partner in their arms is all they need for contentment
Your morning smile, your kiss goodnight
The small gestures of love and affection from their partner at the beginning and end of each day are meaningful to them
And everything's alright
The presence of their partner makes everything alright
When the right goes wrong
In times when things don't go as planned or expected
When I'm scared to death and got nothing left to lean on, 'cause
When the artist is in a position of fear or distress and has no one else to turn to
Yeah I do
The singer is affirming that they have their partner
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Repetition of the affirmation that they have their partner
Baby I got you
The singer is reassuring their partner that they have them
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: KEIFER THOMPSON, SHAWNA THOMPSON, JASON DWIGHT SELLERS, PAUL JENKINS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Order-in-Chaos
Cherilyn Bassett
This is reminiscent of a cool early summer morning sitting on the balcony
amongst the tall trees and suddenly a tiny bright, beautiful and colorful
hummingbird appears out of nowhere flutters for a moment then flies away. You're
that hummingbird. Your parents chose a beautiful and fitting name. I have to
give you the talk because, well, you fluttered over here and I happen to have two
boys around your age so I know the deal. here we go. You still have a full life
ahead of you. You need to have a goal in mind to enjoy it to the fullest. You
need to first appreciate what you have no matter how much or how little. You
need to aim for the stars even if you don't get there. Do your best to always
have a positive attitude. Remember that a smile will solve almost any issue.
It's easy to be mean and disrespectful but hard to be genuine, sensitive and
courteous. That does not mean that you're going to be timid and insecure;
no, not in the least. You need to be able to be assertive and never take junk
from anyone. In dire situations be strong and ignore confrontations. Forgive and
forget. You will have perfect and happy days and you'll also have not so perfect
and miserable days. Take everything in stride and never let bad times consume
you. No on is perfect and you'll always find someone who's a little better than
you and they'll have someone else who's better than them. Don't get worked up
over silly issues. Be positive, positively all the time.
Regarding boys, don't listen to what they tell you, they're lying. Don't
jump into a relationship just because they promise you the rave. If it sounds
too good to be true it's most likely not true.
Education is your weapon for survival. As I said reach for the stars; you
might find yourself not quite there but don't ever drop out. Never.
Online, don't get aggravated over stupid things people throw at you so
ignore and delete.
Be honest, but most importantly be keen and clever. Be very careful with
online relationships. Expect the least and don't get very attached...
I’ll let you go now. Have fun and good luck. Cherish your loved ones;
always.
@shannonhowell4769
"I don't need a big old house full of stuff" Love that part!
@rondarawson6236
Yup...too much junk to take care of....give me simplicity...😇
@valereecrossland8555
Me too!! Love her twangy voice!!
@AudioRevelation144Hz
Such a lovely couple and now family ❤️❤️❤️
@hbelvc6538
10 years later- who is still listening?
@jimboloper1819
Listen to it regularly
@andycountryboy9407
Me.
@grimm_destroyer5566
And thats what i tell myself at least ive got a great woman in my life and why i found a reason to keep moving and making her happy 😊
@kc2788x
that's so funny, the 70's absolutely have no idea what a cd is hahhe, great song!! She's freaking gorgeous!! hopefully this group makes it!!
@aurora.a6645
Two beautiful, brilliant, enchanting couple I like them very very much