“Tonight I Climbed the Wall” breaks down barriers of miscommunication. “Who Says You Can’t Have It All” cleverly tours a “fool’s Taj Mahal” built without love. In the hit “She’s Got the Rhythm (And I Got the Blues),” Jackson appreciates the “ball and chain” of commitment with the hindsight of “having lost the prize.”
While “I Don’t Need the Booze (To Get a Buzz on)” does take a worthwhile poke at alcohol abuse, it also degrades sex to the level of a “buzz” and finds Jackson admitting he’s still apt to “wear a [Pabst] Blue Ribbon smile.” “Chattahootchie” celebrates Friday night drinking binges that result in a “pyramid of cans,” while the artist recalls propositioning a girl for a sexual romp in the backseat of his Chevy.
Jackson, author of the huge hit “Don’t Rock the Jukebox,” follows suit with an unsophisticated, but effective set of country songs in the Opry tradition. References to sex outside of marriage and alcohol use mar an otherwise acceptable effort.
