Our Song (song)
Encyclopedia
"Our Song" is a country music
song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift
. The song was written by Swift and produced by Nathan Chapman
. It was released on August 22, 2007 by Big Machine Records
as the third single
from Swift's eponymous debut album, Taylor Swift
(2006). Swift solely composed "Our Song" for the talent show
of her freshman year in high school, about a boyfriend who she did not have a song with. It was included on Taylor Swift as she recalled its popularity with her classmates. The uptempo track is musically driven mainly by banjo
and lyrically describes a young couple who use the events in their lives in place of a regular song.
"Our Song" was met with great appraise from contemporary critics, some who deemed it one of Swift's best singles, and commercial success. The song charted within the top thirty and top twenty on the Canadian Hot 100
and Billboard Hot 100
, respectively. In the United States, it became Swift's first number one single on the Hot Country Songs
Chart, maintaining the position for six consecutive weeks, and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA). A music video
accompanying "Our Song" was directed by Trey Fanjoy
and features Swift performing in various settings, including a front porch. The video won both nominations for "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year" at the 2008 CMT Music Awards. Swift has performed the song at an abundance of venues, some while supporting as opening act for various country artists' concert tours. She also performed it as part of the Fearless Tour
(2009–10), her first headlining tour.
of her freshman year in high school with no intentions of including it on her debut album. She thought to herself that to be appropriate for the talent show, the song she would write needed to be upbeat and relateable to her classmates. "I wrote it about this guy I was dating, and how we didn't have a song. So I went ahead and wrote us one", she said. The writing process, as with her lead single "Tim McGraw
", took place in approximately twenty minutes. Several months after performing it at the talent show, some of her peers approached her to inform her that they enjoyed the song she played at the talent show, singing a few lines. "They'd only heard it once, so I thought, 'There must be something here!'", Swift recalled. When choosing tracks to record for Taylor Swift, Swift "stood by" "Our Song", repeatedly insisting album producers to record it with her. She claimed she "knew there was something about it." She concluded, "I think there's just some sort of magic in the way the track sounds like it's bouncing." Swift said she desired for the song to be placed as the closing track on Taylor Swift due to its last lyrics repeating the phrase "Play it again", which she thought would subliminally request audiences to replay the album. Big Machine Records executives chose "Our Song" to be the third single from Taylor Swift, which Swift was surprised yet glad about. The song was released as a CD single
on August 22, 2007. "Our Song" was introduced to countries outside of Canada and the United States in the international version of Swift's second studio album, Fearless
.
s per bar
and has a moderately fast tempo of 96 beats per minute. However, Sean Dooley of About.com
described "Our Song" as a snappy midtempo number. The song is written in the key of D major
and Swift's vocals span one octave
, from G3 to B4. Jody Rosen
of Slant Magazine
considers Swift's vocal performance to be twangful
. It follows the chord progression
D–Em7–G–A. The song's instrumentation relies mainly on banjo
and, after the completion of the break
, a violin
solo arrives.
The lyrics are in first person. In the first verse, the protagonist realizes she and her boyfriend do not have a song of their own as he drives his car. The young couple come to using the events in their lives in place of a regular song in the song's refrain
s. Those events are described in sharp detail and include slamming screen doors to sneak out late. Dooley identified Swift's role in "Our Song" to be a narrator.
magazine described the track as gem that hit hard. Rick Bell of Country Standard Time
said Taylor Swifts best efforts were Swift self-penned song, including "Our Song", which "she sings with stirring conviction." Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine
said the song "follow[s] time-tested narrative conventions and, more often than not, build to massive pop hooks." Fiona Chua of MTV Asia selected the track as a choice cut from Swift's second studio album, Fearless. Kate Kiefer of Paste
magazine recognized the song to be Swift's "first great hit" and believed it became many couples' song. In 2008, "Our Song" was listed as a "Winning Song" by Broadcast Music Incorporated
(BMI).
. In the following week, the song ascended to number sixty-seven on the chart and, on the week ending January 19, 2008, reached its peak at number sixteen. "Our Song" spent a total of thirty-six weeks upon the Billboard Hot 100. On Billboard
s Hot Country Songs
Chart, it debuted at number fifty-five and charted at number six on the week ending December 15, 2007. In the succeeding week, the song jumped to number one on Hot Country Songs, becoming the largest leap the top position since Tim McGraw
's "Just to See You Smile
" in January 1998, which also ascended from number six to number one. The song's appearance at number one on Hot Country Songs also became Swift's first and made Swift, then eighteen, the youngest sole writer and singer of a number one country song. "Our Song" remained in the top position on Hot Country Songs for six consecutive weeks, marking Swift's best-charting single on the chart and the longest-running chart-topper there since Carrie Underwood
's "Jesus Take the Wheel" reigned for the same period in January 2006. "Our Song" charted on Hot Country Songs for a total of twenty-four weeks. The single was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) for the shipment of over 2,000,000 copies. As of February 2011, "Our Song" has sold over 2.7 million copies in the United States. In Canada, "You Belong with Me" entered at number eighty-four and peaked at number three. On the Canadian Hot 100
, "Our Song" peaked at number thirty, becoming Swift's best-charting single from Taylor Swift in Canada. It was certified platinum by Music Canada
for sales of 80,000 digital downloads.
for "Our Song" was directed by Trey Fanjoy
. While listening to "Our Song", Fanjoy shared her ideals for a music video with Swift. "She had this idea for a front porch performance and the a field of flowers for another performance, then a black-and-white performance shot. It all came together in her head. She was able to translate that so well onto film. It just shows what a truly great director she is", Swift informed CMT News. The video was conceptualized to be very fantasy-like and surreal. The video begins with a shot of Swift's toenails as she paints them. Swift, casually wearing a blue tank top, white hot pants, and straightened hair, is revealed to be engaging in a phone conversation in a bedroom. A cut-scene shows Swift affront a restroom mirror, which she writes the word "Love", before furtively approaching a front porch, seen in a blue dress and curly hair. Swift then sits near the edge and performs "Our Song". The scene transitions to Swift lying on a bed of flowers and wearing an orange evening gown. She holds a card that spells her first name. Then, clothed by a long, black dress, black cowboy boots, and black gloves, Swift sings with a microphone and a backup band behind her in front of a white backdrop. Throughout the remainder of the video, scenes alternate between previous settings and concludes with Swift giggling while sitting on the front porch.
The video premiered on September 14, 2007 on CMT
. The video received a nomination for "Number One Streamed Music Video" at the web-hosted 2008 CMT Online Awards, but lost to Carrie Underwood
's video for "All-American Girl
". At the 2008 CMT Music Awards, the video won the CMT Music Award for "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year".
on several dates, from October 19 to November 3, 2006, included on the Me and My Gang Tour (2006–07). Swift opened the concert with the song and dressed in a black, knee-length dress and red cowboy boots with a design of a skull and cross bones across it, playing an acoustic guitar. She also performed the song when she served as opening act on twenty dates for George Strait
's 2007 United States tour, and selected dates for Brad Paisley
's Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour in 2007. During mid-2007, Swift engaged as the opening act on several dates for Tim McGraw
's and Faith Hill
's joint tour, Soul2Soul II Tour (2006–07), where she again performed "Our Song". Swift performed the song while she was again opening for Rascal Flatts for their Still Feels Good Tour in 2008. Swift's first televised performance of "Our Song" was on October 10, 2007 on Regis & Kelly. She continued promotion for track at the 2007 Country Music Association Awards
, The Engine Room, and a concert at the Apple Store in SoHo, New York, which was recorded and released as a live extended play (EP), iTunes Live from SoHo, exclusively sold through the iTunes Store
. Since completing promotion for Taylor Swift and its corresponding singles, Swift has performed "Our Song" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show
, on Studio 330 Sessions, on The Today Show, at the 2009 CMA Music Festival
, as a duet with English rock
band Def Leppard
on CMT Crossroads, the episode was released as a DVD exclusively through Wal-Mart
stores in the United States, at the 2009 V Festival
, and at the Australian charity concert Sydney Sound Relief
.
Swift performed the song on all venues of her first headlining concert tour, the Fearless Tour
, which extended from April 2009 to June 2010. During each performance, she donned a sparkly cocktail dress and black, leather boots. Swift skipped across the stage performing, playing a rhinestoned acoustic guitar.
Jim Harrington of The San Jose Mercury News reported the song's performance at the April 11, 2010 at HP Pavilion at San Jose in San Jose, California
received a large positive reaction from the audience: "Moms and daughters, as well as groups of teens and couples out for a date night, sang along with equal gusto as Swift detailed young romance in 'Our Song'." Molly Trust of Billboard attended the performance at the tour's final concert on June 5, 2010 at Gillette Stadium
in Foxborough, Massachusetts
and stated, "Swift contrasted her slower songs with intense performances of 'Forever & Always' [...] and 'Our Song'". Our Song, is performed in the current North American leg of the Speak Now World Tour
, the only song from Swift's debut album.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
song performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...
. The song was written by Swift and produced by Nathan Chapman
Nathan Chapman (record producer)
Nathan Chapman is an American record producer who works in the field of country music. He is known primarily for working with Taylor Swift, having produced her albums Taylor Swift, Fearless and Speak Now. The former was also the first album that he produced...
. It was released on August 22, 2007 by Big Machine Records
Big Machine Records
Big Machine Records is an Independent American record label specializing in country music artists. It was launched in 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta. The label was part of a joint venture between Borchetta and country singer Toby Keith, although Keith dropped his...
as the third single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
from Swift's eponymous debut album, Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift (album)
Taylor Swift is the eponymous debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The album was released on October 24, 2006 by Big Machine Records. Swift wrote songs for the album during her freshman year of high school and has writing credits on all of the albums' songs including those...
(2006). Swift solely composed "Our Song" for the talent show
Talent show
A talent show is an event where participants perform their talent or talents of acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, drumming, martial arts, playing an instrument, and other activities to showcase a unique form of talent, sometimes for a reward, trophy or prize...
of her freshman year in high school, about a boyfriend who she did not have a song with. It was included on Taylor Swift as she recalled its popularity with her classmates. The uptempo track is musically driven mainly by banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
and lyrically describes a young couple who use the events in their lives in place of a regular song.
"Our Song" was met with great appraise from contemporary critics, some who deemed it one of Swift's best singles, and commercial success. The song charted within the top thirty and top twenty on the Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
and Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, respectively. In the United States, it became Swift's first number one single on the Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
Chart, maintaining the position for six consecutive weeks, and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA). A music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
accompanying "Our Song" was directed by Trey Fanjoy
Trey Fanjoy
Trey Fanjoy is a country music and pop music video director. Fanjoy has directed over 150 major label music videos. Her videos have appeared on CMT, VH-1, GAC, The Nashville Network, CMT Canada, and MTV.-Music videos:...
and features Swift performing in various settings, including a front porch. The video won both nominations for "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year" at the 2008 CMT Music Awards. Swift has performed the song at an abundance of venues, some while supporting as opening act for various country artists' concert tours. She also performed it as part of the Fearless Tour
Fearless Tour
The Fearless Tour was the first concert tour by American country pop singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The tour was in support of her second studio album, Fearless. On the tour, she was joined by guests Kellie Pickler and Gloriana. Teen singer, Justin Bieber joined her for the tour when she went to...
(2009–10), her first headlining tour.
Background
Swift self-penned "Our Song" for the talent showTalent show
A talent show is an event where participants perform their talent or talents of acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, drumming, martial arts, playing an instrument, and other activities to showcase a unique form of talent, sometimes for a reward, trophy or prize...
of her freshman year in high school with no intentions of including it on her debut album. She thought to herself that to be appropriate for the talent show, the song she would write needed to be upbeat and relateable to her classmates. "I wrote it about this guy I was dating, and how we didn't have a song. So I went ahead and wrote us one", she said. The writing process, as with her lead single "Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw (song)
"Tim McGraw" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The song was written by Swift and Liz Rose, and produced by Nathan Chapman. It was released on June 19, 2006 by Big Machine Records as Swift's debut single and the lead single from Swift's eponymous debut album, Taylor Swift...
", took place in approximately twenty minutes. Several months after performing it at the talent show, some of her peers approached her to inform her that they enjoyed the song she played at the talent show, singing a few lines. "They'd only heard it once, so I thought, 'There must be something here!'", Swift recalled. When choosing tracks to record for Taylor Swift, Swift "stood by" "Our Song", repeatedly insisting album producers to record it with her. She claimed she "knew there was something about it." She concluded, "I think there's just some sort of magic in the way the track sounds like it's bouncing." Swift said she desired for the song to be placed as the closing track on Taylor Swift due to its last lyrics repeating the phrase "Play it again", which she thought would subliminally request audiences to replay the album. Big Machine Records executives chose "Our Song" to be the third single from Taylor Swift, which Swift was surprised yet glad about. The song was released as a CD single
CD single
A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...
on August 22, 2007. "Our Song" was introduced to countries outside of Canada and the United States in the international version of Swift's second studio album, Fearless
Fearless (Taylor Swift album)
Fearless has been well-received by music professionals, with many praising Swift for her introspective lyrics, as well as her mature sound. According to the music review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an...
.
Composition
"Our Song" is a country music song with a length of three minutes and twenty-four seconds. It is set in compound time with eight eighth noteEighth note
thumb|180px|right|Figure 1. An eighth note with stem facing up, an eighth note with stem facing down, and an eighth rest.thumb|right|180px|Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together....
s per bar
Bar (music)
In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats of a given duration. Typically, a piece consists of several bars of the same length, and in modern musical notation the number of beats in each bar is specified at the beginning of the score by the top number of a...
and has a moderately fast tempo of 96 beats per minute. However, Sean Dooley of About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
described "Our Song" as a snappy midtempo number. The song is written in the key of D major
D major
D major is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature consists of two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor....
and Swift's vocals span one octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
, from G3 to B4. Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen
Jody Rosen is an American journalist and author. He is the music critic for the online magazine Slate, and the author of White Christmas: The Story of an American Song....
of Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
considers Swift's vocal performance to be twangful
Alternative country
Alternative country is a loosely defined sub-genre of country music, which includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream or pop country music...
. It follows the chord progression
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
D–Em7–G–A. The song's instrumentation relies mainly on banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
and, after the completion of the break
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....
, a violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
solo arrives.
The lyrics are in first person. In the first verse, the protagonist realizes she and her boyfriend do not have a song of their own as he drives his car. The young couple come to using the events in their lives in place of a regular song in the song's refrain
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
s. Those events are described in sharp detail and include slamming screen doors to sneak out late. Dooley identified Swift's role in "Our Song" to be a narrator.
Critical reception
"Our Song" was met with great appraise from contemporary critics. Sean Dooley of About.com listed "Our Song" as Swift's fifth best song to date. He identified Swift's "uncanny ability, especially at such a young age, to write a compelling narrative" as the song's highlight, referencing the opening lines "I was riding shotgun with my hair undone in the front seat of his car / He's got a one-hand feel on the steering wheel / The other on my heart." Rob Sheffield of BlenderBlender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
magazine described the track as gem that hit hard. Rick Bell of Country Standard Time
Country Standard Time
Country Standard Time is a website dedicated to country music and related genres such as Bluegrass and Rockabilly. It provides news and musical reviews pertaining to the genre. It was established in 1992 by Jeffrey B. Remz as a print magazine, which was first published only in New England but went...
said Taylor Swifts best efforts were Swift self-penned song, including "Our Song", which "she sings with stirring conviction." Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
said the song "follow[s] time-tested narrative conventions and, more often than not, build to massive pop hooks." Fiona Chua of MTV Asia selected the track as a choice cut from Swift's second studio album, Fearless. Kate Kiefer of Paste
Paste (magazine)
Paste is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine published in the United States by Wolfgang's Vault. Its tagline is "Signs of Life in Music, Film and Culture."-History:...
magazine recognized the song to be Swift's "first great hit" and believed it became many couples' song. In 2008, "Our Song" was listed as a "Winning Song" by Broadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
(BMI).
Chart performance
On the week ending October 13, 2007, "Our Song" debuted at number eighty-six on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. In the following week, the song ascended to number sixty-seven on the chart and, on the week ending January 19, 2008, reached its peak at number sixteen. "Our Song" spent a total of thirty-six weeks upon the Billboard Hot 100. On Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
s Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
Chart, it debuted at number fifty-five and charted at number six on the week ending December 15, 2007. In the succeeding week, the song jumped to number one on Hot Country Songs, becoming the largest leap the top position since Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...
's "Just to See You Smile
Just to See You Smile
"Just to See You Smile" is the title of a song written by Mark Nesler and Tony Martin, and recorded by American country music artist Tim McGraw. It was released in August 1997 as the third single from the album Everywhere...
" in January 1998, which also ascended from number six to number one. The song's appearance at number one on Hot Country Songs also became Swift's first and made Swift, then eighteen, the youngest sole writer and singer of a number one country song. "Our Song" remained in the top position on Hot Country Songs for six consecutive weeks, marking Swift's best-charting single on the chart and the longest-running chart-topper there since Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...
's "Jesus Take the Wheel" reigned for the same period in January 2006. "Our Song" charted on Hot Country Songs for a total of twenty-four weeks. The single was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) for the shipment of over 2,000,000 copies. As of February 2011, "Our Song" has sold over 2.7 million copies in the United States. In Canada, "You Belong with Me" entered at number eighty-four and peaked at number three. On the Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
, "Our Song" peaked at number thirty, becoming Swift's best-charting single from Taylor Swift in Canada. It was certified platinum by Music Canada
Music Canada
Music Canada was a Canadian music television miniseries which aired approximately monthly on CBC Television from 1966 to 1967.-Premise:This series featured various special productions of music and dance, from classical to modern styles.-Scheduling:...
for sales of 80,000 digital downloads.
Music video
The accompanying music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for "Our Song" was directed by Trey Fanjoy
Trey Fanjoy
Trey Fanjoy is a country music and pop music video director. Fanjoy has directed over 150 major label music videos. Her videos have appeared on CMT, VH-1, GAC, The Nashville Network, CMT Canada, and MTV.-Music videos:...
. While listening to "Our Song", Fanjoy shared her ideals for a music video with Swift. "She had this idea for a front porch performance and the a field of flowers for another performance, then a black-and-white performance shot. It all came together in her head. She was able to translate that so well onto film. It just shows what a truly great director she is", Swift informed CMT News. The video was conceptualized to be very fantasy-like and surreal. The video begins with a shot of Swift's toenails as she paints them. Swift, casually wearing a blue tank top, white hot pants, and straightened hair, is revealed to be engaging in a phone conversation in a bedroom. A cut-scene shows Swift affront a restroom mirror, which she writes the word "Love", before furtively approaching a front porch, seen in a blue dress and curly hair. Swift then sits near the edge and performs "Our Song". The scene transitions to Swift lying on a bed of flowers and wearing an orange evening gown. She holds a card that spells her first name. Then, clothed by a long, black dress, black cowboy boots, and black gloves, Swift sings with a microphone and a backup band behind her in front of a white backdrop. Throughout the remainder of the video, scenes alternate between previous settings and concludes with Swift giggling while sitting on the front porch.
The video premiered on September 14, 2007 on CMT
CMT
- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...
. The video received a nomination for "Number One Streamed Music Video" at the web-hosted 2008 CMT Online Awards, but lost to Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...
's video for "All-American Girl
All-American Girl (song)
"All-American Girl" is a song composed by country pop singer Carrie Underwood, Ashley Gorley and Kelley Lovelace. It is the second single from Underwood's second studio album, Carnival Ride, released in the United States on December 17, 2007...
". At the 2008 CMT Music Awards, the video won the CMT Music Award for "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year".
Live performances
She performed "Our Song" as she opened for Rascal FlattsRascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American country music band that originated in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. Since its inception, Rascal Flatts has been composed of three members: Gary LeVox , Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney...
on several dates, from October 19 to November 3, 2006, included on the Me and My Gang Tour (2006–07). Swift opened the concert with the song and dressed in a black, knee-length dress and red cowboy boots with a design of a skull and cross bones across it, playing an acoustic guitar. She also performed the song when she served as opening act on twenty dates for George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...
's 2007 United States tour, and selected dates for Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
's Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour in 2007. During mid-2007, Swift engaged as the opening act on several dates for Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw
Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...
's and Faith Hill
Faith Hill
Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...
's joint tour, Soul2Soul II Tour (2006–07), where she again performed "Our Song". Swift performed the song while she was again opening for Rascal Flatts for their Still Feels Good Tour in 2008. Swift's first televised performance of "Our Song" was on October 10, 2007 on Regis & Kelly. She continued promotion for track at the 2007 Country Music Association Awards
Country Music Association Awards
The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards, or the CMAs, and not to be confused with the ACM Awards, are voted on by business members of the Country Music Association. The first CMA awards were presented at an untelevised ceremony in Nashville's Municipal Auditorium in 1967...
, The Engine Room, and a concert at the Apple Store in SoHo, New York, which was recorded and released as a live extended play (EP), iTunes Live from SoHo, exclusively sold through the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
. Since completing promotion for Taylor Swift and its corresponding singles, Swift has performed "Our Song" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...
, on Studio 330 Sessions, on The Today Show, at the 2009 CMA Music Festival
CMA Music Festival
The CMA Music Festival is a four-day music festival centered around country music hosted each June by the Country Music Association in Nashville, Tennessee...
, as a duet with English rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
on CMT Crossroads, the episode was released as a DVD exclusively through Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
stores in the United States, at the 2009 V Festival
V Festival
The V Festival is an annual music festival held in England during the penultimate weekend in August. The event is held at two parks simultaneously which share the same bill; artists perform at one location on Saturday and then swap on Sunday. The sites are located at Hylands Park in Chelmsford and...
, and at the Australian charity concert Sydney Sound Relief
Sound Relief
Sound Relief was a multi-venue rock music concert held on 14 March 2009, which was announced by the Premier of Victoria, John Brumby on 24 February 2009...
.
Swift performed the song on all venues of her first headlining concert tour, the Fearless Tour
Fearless Tour
The Fearless Tour was the first concert tour by American country pop singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. The tour was in support of her second studio album, Fearless. On the tour, she was joined by guests Kellie Pickler and Gloriana. Teen singer, Justin Bieber joined her for the tour when she went to...
, which extended from April 2009 to June 2010. During each performance, she donned a sparkly cocktail dress and black, leather boots. Swift skipped across the stage performing, playing a rhinestoned acoustic guitar.
Jim Harrington of The San Jose Mercury News reported the song's performance at the April 11, 2010 at HP Pavilion at San Jose in San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
received a large positive reaction from the audience: "Moms and daughters, as well as groups of teens and couples out for a date night, sang along with equal gusto as Swift detailed young romance in 'Our Song'." Molly Trust of Billboard attended the performance at the tour's final concert on June 5, 2010 at Gillette Stadium
Gillette Stadium
Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, 21 miles southwest of downtown Boston and from downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It serves as the home stadium and administrative offices for the New England Patriots football team and the New England Revolution...
in Foxborough, Massachusetts
Foxborough, Massachusetts
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 16,246 people, 6,141 households, and 4,396 families residing in the town. The population density was 809.1 people per square mile . There were 6,299 housing units at an average density of 313.7 per square mile...
and stated, "Swift contrasted her slower songs with intense performances of 'Forever & Always' [...] and 'Our Song'". Our Song, is performed in the current North American leg of the Speak Now World Tour
Speak Now World Tour
Speak Now World Tour is the second concert tour by American country singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift, in support of her third studio album, Speak Now. The tour visited Asia, Europe, North America and Australasia...
, the only song from Swift's debut album.
Charts
| Chart (2007—2008) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... |
30 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
16 |
| US Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
1 |
| US Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart... |
18 |
Year-end charts
| Charts (2008) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 41 |
| US Hot Country Songs | 39 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification Music recording sales certification Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,... |
|---|---|
| Canada Music Canada Music Canada was a Canadian music television miniseries which aired approximately monthly on CBC Television from 1966 to 1967.-Premise:This series featured various special productions of music and dance, from classical to modern styles.-Scheduling:... |
Platinum |
| United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
2× Platinum |
See also
External links
- "Our Song" music video on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
(posted by Swift's VevoVevoVevo is a music video website. It is a joint venture among Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Abu Dhabi Media with EMI licensing its content to the group without taking an ownership stake. The service was launched officially on December 8, 2009...
)