It's been about five months since Gary Allan took the Jonathan Singleton- and Jim Beavers-penned song "Watching Airplanes" to the top of the Country Aircheck chart, but more than 100 of Singleton's friends, associates and family members turned out this week to celebrate the song's success during a party at ASCAP. (BMI hosted a party for Jim Beavers in March.)
Those in the audience included: Gary Allan and a contingent of the staff from his record company Universal Music Group; co-writer Jim Beavers; songwriter Craig Wiseman; publisher Charlie Monk; Hank Adam Locklin from the Country Music Association; Ed Salamon, executive director of Country Radio Broadcasters; and Todd Cassetty, president of Hi-Fi Fusion Inc. and Verberate LLC.
Even though it has been months since "Watching Airplanes" went to No. 1, both songwriters said the song's success is still sinking in.
"I still don't see this happening," Singleton said. "The things I can wrap my redneck mind around are the first day when Jim called and said, 'We're getting a cut.' I was like, 'OK.' Then the things after that … still haven't really hit me."
"Watching Airplanes" was both writers' first No. 1 and was also Singleton's first cut.
"The whole thing has been … from the first day it couldn't have gotten better," said Singleton, who also has a recording deal with Universal South Records. "But it kept getting better. So this was my first song (cut), first single, first No. 1. So I really have nowhere to go but down, and I'm OK with that."
Beavers, who also co-wrote "Trying to Stop Your Leaving" for Dierks Bentley and Brad Paisley's "Mr. Policeman," said he "couldn't have scripted" the success of "Watching Airplanes" any better. He said the process could have gone smoother, though, because the pair had trouble etching out the song's verses at first.
The chorus came first"I love to write songs by writing the chorus first, so we did that," Beavers said. "Then we had to figure out what it meant. It took us a long time to get the verses, but the chorus was quick."
"We couldn't figure out what to do with him," Singleton added. "I remember he was running down the runway, and we had him throw his bags down. Then it was like, 'Is he going to get on the flight? Is he going to chase her? What's he going to do?' "
"I remember that," Beavers said. "It all sounds so stupid now. I'm glad we just kept him out there smoking pot. It's much better."
Singleton and Beavers get another stab at a No. 1 next week when Billy Currington re leases their song "Don't," the lead single from Currington's forthcoming al bum.
"People keep telling us we're hot," Beavers said. "We're like, 'Is this what it feels like to be hot? Because I still feel like me.' I hope it does well, and I think it's great for Billy Currington."
Meanwhile, the writers are basking in their initial success. At the party, ASCAP's Mike Sistad presented Singleton (who is an ASCAP writer) with an ASCAP jacket, which is customarily given to the organization's writers to commemorate their first songs. (Beavers received the same honor in the form of a guitar at his BMI party.)
As for Allan, he took the microphone at ASCAP to thank the pair for writing "Watching Airplanes" and left them with a simple request: "Write me another one."
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