Rodney Atkins, ‘Watching You’ — Story Behind the Lyrics
Filed under: Exclusive, Country News, Story Behind the Song
The Boot recently caught up with award-winning songwriter Brian White, whose lengthy list of credits includes Trace Adkins, Blackhawk, Neal McCoy and Earl Scruggs. But we wanted to know which song, from his dozens of cuts, is his favorite, and he had an immediate answer: ‘Watching You‘ by Rodney Atkins.
The song, which was Rodney’s second No. 1 hit, never would have happened without his first chart-topping song, ‘If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows),’ and a precocious son, Elijah, who liked to mimic everything his father did.
I wrote the song with a buddy of mine, Steve Dean and Rodney. Rodney was coming into the writing appointment and he was late by a few minutes. He said, “I’m sorry guys, I had to stop by the daycare and talk to Elijah’s teacher. She wanted to talk to me because Elijah was standing in line going, ‘If you’re going through Hell, hell, hell.” And I said, “You know, you probably don’t want him saying that.” Rodney said, “I want him to understand the sentiment of the song, but I have to teach him not to say that.” I told him, “Man, he’s just watching you. He’s picking up on what Dad does.”
