First Cut: Hear The Original Version of Kenny Chesney’s “Anything But Mine”

Anything But Mine (Demo)

Writer: Scooter Carusoe

Recorded by: Kenny Chesney

Here at The Shotgun Seat we want you to discover the unsung heroes who are behind the spotlight and responsible for the songs in the industry. Our “First Cut” series gives our readers an insider’s ear to the original demos of tracks cut by country all-stars.

Carnival Music has recently released a gem from their catalog onto SoundCloud: the original demo of the 2005 Kenny Chesney single “Anything But Mine,” written by the amazingly talented Scooter Carusoe. This recording is of Scooter singing the demo, and what is outstanding (among the many, many, many outstanding things about this song) is how close Buddy Cannon and Kenny Chesney stuck to the original recording when producing it for Chesney’s “When The Sun Goes Down” album. You’ll notice that, outside of the signature lick from the lead guitar, little has changed from how Scooter envisioned the song. Go ahead, take a second and listen. We’ll wait for you.

The lyrics recall a place we may or may not have ever been, but know exactly where it is. “There’s a warm wind coming in off of the ocean, making it’s way past the hotel walls to fill the streets; Mary is holding both of her shoes in her hand, says she likes to feel the sand beneath her feet.” You hear these lines and you can experience the scene in every dimension, every sense engaged; you can feel the warmth of the breeze, taste the salt in the ear, see Mary walking barefoot next to you. How many writers can cause you to experience a song so directly? You are transported to a place and time outside of your own current worries, to remember when the touch, sight and sound of one person was all that mattered.

Chesney does a great job not over singing this song on his album cut, but hearing it directly from the mouth of the writer it takes on a whole new level of realism. Lines like “In the midst of the music I tell her I love her, We both laugh cause we know it isn’t true” and of course the set-up/hook “I don’t see how you could ever be anything but mine”, point to the real, honest acceptance of the fast-burning, fragile power of a short-lived but earth shattering summer love.

Scooter Carusoe has built an outstanding catalog of songs, including some of my favorites: “Strangers on a Train” and “Turning Home” (David Nail), “Heart of the World” (Lady Antebellum) and “Better as a Memory” (Kenny Chesney). But what sets “Anything But Mine” apart more than anything is the fact that he wrote this one on his own, in a town and time where that didn’t happen, especially with #1 singles. The authenticity of the lyric, combined with the simple but powerful melody, all coming from the mind and hand of one person is such a rare thing. It’s hard to imagine such amazingly descriptive images not coming from a real story somewhere. Is there a girl on a beach, named Mary, with bare feet, somewhere, who hears this song and knows it was written for her? I’d like to imagine there is, because real or fiction, we are all better for the moments she spent inhabiting a song that can help us recall our Mary and our miracle mile.