For My Sunday Song #330, we end the Shinedown 10 song set with their biggest hit “Second Chance”. The song was off their 2008 smash album, ‘The Sound of Madness’ and was the second single off the album. It went to #1 on the Adult Top 40 and was the last #1 song played by Casey Kasem before he retired from his American Top 40 show. The song also went to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song alone has sold well over 3,000,000 copies. Not bad at all!!
The song was written by Brent Smith and Dave Bassett and is about the time in your life when you wake up and decide you are going to chase after your dream…do what you want to do. It is when you go outside of your little bubble and find out who you are and what you are here to do. Everyone deserves that chance to reach for their goals. The song for Brent was very personal as it was about the time he left his parents and went out on his own to learn to be a man. He said he still is learning that today. It sounds like his parents might not have agreed on his decision to pursue the rock career, but he had to do it.
The song is a power ballad in that it has a slower tempo, Brent’s vocals are soft and emotive at times. When the chorus hits it ramps up the power and the emotion. It is a very radio-friendly track as it pushes all the sappy buttons so no wonder it did well. But it is popular because it is a very good song. The lyrics can be cheesy at times, but the point behind the song is still beautiful and relevant. That climatic build-up, scream and drum fill at the end of the song, make it standout above the rest of the radio fodder. It is a well-crafted, brilliant song. It is one of those songs for me that I never tire of despite it being completely overplayed on the radio at the time.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 