Story behind Carrie Underwood’s hit ‘Last Name’
Nashville recently served as host to the megawatt benefit concert “We’re All for the Hall, a special show for the Country Music Hall of Fame spearheaded by Keith Urban and Vince Gill. Carrie Underwood was just one of the stars on the bill, performing Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” as well as her own 2007 hit “Last Name.”
Regarding the latter tune: Do you know what actually inspired it? A shortlived fling was actually the catalyst for the Grammy-winning single. The singer told the “All for the Hall” crowd the story behind the song before performing it.
“Before I met my beautiful, wonderful, perfect hockey husband [ Nashville Predator Mike Fisher], I had met this guy. I got together with [songwriters] Hillary Lindsey and Luke Laird to write, and we were goofing around like we always do. I was telling them about this guy I met. They asked who he was, and I said, ‘Y’all! I don’t even know his last name!’”
She continued: “We hadn’t even dated or anything and it didn’t turn out the way this song did, but I said, ‘We need to turn this mess into a song!’ And this is it.”
The lyrics of the song are a bit overthe-top to be autobiographical. However, exaggerated or not, the song stands out in Underwood’s catalog. Unlike fellow country megastars such as Taylor Swift, Underwood has previously said she never writes music about her past relationships.
In 2009, when she was asked by Esquire if the song “Cowboy Casanova” was about ex-boyfriend Tony Romo as rumors had it, she flat-out denied the speculation. “I would never immortalize a guy that did me wrong,” she said. “I would never give him that much credit.”
Perhaps this means the little fling that inspired “Last Name” ended on a good note?