Music Friday: Rascal Flatts Reveals What Happens When You Play a Country Song ‘Backwards’

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, Rascal Flatts reveals what happens when you play a country song backwards.

The fun 2006 ditty, appropriately titled “Backwards,” explains how playing a country song in reverse essentially gets you a free pass to hit the restart button on your adult life.

Sung from the point of view of an “old boy” who has been through hard times, “Backwards” delivers an up-tempo, foot-stomping laundry list of all the things he’d get back if he could magically rewrite his personal history. One of those things is a diamond ring.

Rascal Flatts’ lead vocalist Gary LaVox sings, “You get your hair back / You get your first and second wives back / Your front porch swing / Your pretty little thing / Your bling, bling, bling and a diamond ring.”

“Backwards” is the fourth track from Rascal Flatts’ five-time platinum album Me and My Gang, which sold five million copies and scored the #1 spot on the U.S. Billboard Top 200 albums chart. The song also appeared three years later on the soundtrack of Hannah Montana: The Movie, which also hit #1 on the Billboard album chart.

The song is prominently featured in a pivotal scene when Miley Cyrus’ character, Miley Stewart, arrives home to find her extended family jamming to the song in her living room. She mimics a few lines from the song and then says, “I want my life back, Dad.”

Bandmembers LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney established Rascal Flatts in Columbus, OH, in 1999. The band is credited having charted 40 singles, 16 of which have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay and Canada Country charts.

Please check out the audio clip of Rascal Flatts performing “Backwards.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along.

“Backwards”
Written by Marcel Francois Chagnon and Tony Carl Mullins. Performed by Rascal Flatts.

I was sittin’ on a bar stool
In a barbecue joint in Tennessee
When this old boy walked in
And he sat right down next to me

I could tell he’d been through some hard times
There were tear stains on his old shirt
And he said, “You wanna know what you get
When you play a country song backwards?”

You get your house back
You get your dog back
You get your best friend Jack back
You get your truck back

You get your hair back
You get your first and second wives back
Your front porch swing
Your pretty little thing

Your bling, bling, bling and a diamond ring
You get your farm, and the barn
And the boat, and the Harley
First night in jail with Charlie

It sounds a little crazy
A little scattered and absurd
But that’s what you get
When you play a country song backwards

Well, I never heard it said quite like that
It hit me in the face ’cause that’s where I’m at
I almost fell flat out on the floor
He said, “Wait a minute, that’s not all
There’s even more.”

You get your mind back
You get your nerves back
Your first heart attack back
You get your pride back

You get your life back
You get your first real love back
You get your big screen TV, a DVD
And a washing machine

You get the pond, and the lawn
And the bail, and the mower
You go back where you don’t know her
It sounds a little crazy

A little scattered and absurd
But that’s what you get
When you play a country song backwards
Oh play that song!

We sat there and shot the bull
About how it would be
If we could turn it all around
And change this C-R-A-P

You get your house back
You get your dog back
You get your best friend Jack back
You get your truck back

You get your hair back
You get your first and second wives back
Your front porch swing
Your pretty little thing

Your bling, bling, bling and a diamond ring
You get your farm, and the barn
And the boat, and the Harley
First night in jail with Charlie
You get your mind back

You get your nerves back
Your first heart attack back
You get your pride back
You get your life back

You get your first real love back
You get your big screen TV, a DVD
And a washing machine
You get the pond, and the lawn

And the bail, and the mower
You go back where you don’t know her
It sounds a little crazy
A little scattered and absurd

But that’s what you get
When you play a country song backwards

Credit: Image by Redfires23, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

LIRR Conductor Reunites Jeweler With $107K Worth of Engagement Ring Samples

Long Island Rail Road assistant conductor Jonathan Yellowday earned a commendation and 15 minutes of NYC-media-market fame for discovering — and quickly turning in — a ring case containing 36 diamond semi-mounts worth $107,000.

A Manhattan Diamond District jeweler lost the rings while traveling home to Long Island on the Port Washington line. The valuable case was making the trip with him because he wanted to show a variety of popular styles to a niece who is planning to get engaged.

But during the trip, the jeweler got distracted when he met up with a friend. He lost track of time and was surprised when the train arrived at his stop. He rushed through the train doors just before they closed, but left behind a plastic bag containing his ring case.

Working the 6:11 train on Thursday night was Yellowday, who noticed the unattended bag as the train came to it final stop. He collected the bag and brought it to his compartment on the train.

“I had to do a double take because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Yellowday told The New York Daily News. “I actually thought they were fake until I saw the price tags.”

Even though Yellowday was at the end of his shift and the LIRR headquarters in NYC was 55 minutes away, the assistant conductor decided the best thing to do was to hand-deliver the case of diamond rings to the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) police that same night.

“I found a cell phone and a wallet here and there, but nothing like this," the eight-year LIRR veteran explained. “I said I want to personally hand it over to the MTA police to make sure it didn’t get lost in transit. I didn’t think twice about it. That’s somebody’s livelihood in that box.”

The jeweler didn't realize he had left his ring case behind until Friday morning.

"I started searching the house. I thought I brought it home," he told NBC News. "I started retracing my steps and remembered I left it on the train."

He drove to a nearby LIRR station, where the station manager reported that his jewelry case had been turned in the night before.

The jeweler and his wife took the next train to NYC, where they got to retrieve the jewelry and meet the honest man who saved the day.

“I could only imagine what you were going through yesterday when you realized that you didn’t have your jewelry," Yellowday told the jeweler. "You know when you get on the 6:11 you’re in good hands.”

Yellowday and the jeweler exchanged a warm hug. Then, the assistant conductor proudly held up his commendation while posing with some LIRR bigwigs, including LIRR president Phil Eng. Later, he would enjoy a lunch date with the jeweler and his wife.

NBC reported that the jeweler plans to reward Yellowday with a custom piece of fine jewelry.

Credits: Photos by Marc A. Hermann / MTA.

Tampa Bay Lightning's 2020 Stanley Cup Ring Sets a Jostens Record for Gem Weight

Set with 557 diamonds and 81 custom-cut blue sapphires, the Tampa Bay Lightning's 2020 Stanley Cup Championship ring boasts a gem total weight of 25 carats, the most in Jostens' history. Players and coaches finally received their highly anticipated 2020 rings on Friday night — 47 games into the 2021 season.

Normally, the team would have raised its championship banner and distributed the rings at the 2021 home opener, but the Lightning decided to hold off on the presentations until fans could participate at Tampa Bay's Amalie Arena.

Certainly, the 2020 season was like no other in NHL history. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the team played the entirety of the playoffs in the isolation of hub-cities for 65 days. Despite being separated from family, friends and fans by thousands of miles, the Tampa Bay Lightning persevered and overcame the most difficult of circumstances to be crowned the NHL’s 2020 Stanley Cup Champions.

On Friday night, the players and coaches got their first glimpse of the blingiest ring ever designed by Jostens. The 25 carats of gemstones is the highest total weight of any championship ring, in any sport, in Jostens' 124-year history.

Crafted in 14-karat white gold, the ring top features the iconic Lightning logo rendered in blue sapphires. The bolt of the logo features 12 custom-cut sapphires, which are intricately hand-set with an additional 18 custom-cut sapphires completing the logo. There are 24 diamonds brilliantly encircling the edge of the team's logo.

The Cup itself is crafted with 79 diamonds. In an interesting twist, Jostens engineered the Stanley Cup and Lightning logo to lift up from the face to reveal the word "STOCKHOLM," a nod to the city in Sweden where the Lightning participated in the NHL's Global Series. During the trip, the team won both games versus the Buffalo Sabres and also found their team identity. The inside of the Stanley Cup also features two crossed hockey sticks with a hockey puck — rendered as a singular black diamond — between them.

Encircling the logo and Cup are an additional 27 custom-cut blue sapphires, symbolic of the 27 seasons the Lightning organization has been a part of the NHL leading up to their 2020 Stanley Cup victory.

An additional 146 pavé-set diamonds adorn the ring top and flow down the edges. Along both the top and bottom edges of the ring are 12 custom-cut sapphires set in a detailed wave pattern. These waves pay tribute to Tampa Bay, which is known for its proximity to the beautiful waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The left side of the ring features the words STANLEY CUP and the right side displays CHAMPIONS, set in raised white gold against a contrasting background of Lightning blue.

The left side of the ring also features the recipient's name created from white gold and accented with the same Lightning blue in the background. Below the name is the player's number set in diamonds within a circle that has the details of a hockey net in the background.

The right side of the ring displays the championship year date of 2020, which is separated by a banner featuring the motto "DISTANT THUNDER," which was adopted by the team to recognize their fans during their 2020 playoff run. The right side also includes the team name and Lightning logo.

The sides of the ring are adorned with diamonds that cascade down from the top of the ring and wrap around the palm side which displays the words "GRAVY TRAIN," the title of the team's locker room victory song for the season. In total, there are 308 diamonds hand-set on the sides of the rings alone. This first-of-its-kind presentation for Jostens results in a ring that shines with brilliance from every angle.

The interior of the ring contains the Lightning logo in custom blue ceramic with the results of each of the team's 2020 playoff round victories to the right side. To the left of the logo is 216:14, the total number of overtime minutes endured by the Lightning during the playoffs and the most of any NHL team in a single post-season. The overtime minutes were equivalent to playing nearly four extra regulation games. The Lightning was also the first team in NHL history to reach the Stanley Cup Final after clinching their other three series via overtime wins.

As an added detail of personalization, Jostens included each player's signature on the interior palm side.

Credits: Images courtesy of Jostens.