Secret revealed: 'Cleaning This Gun' almost didn't happen
Mazel tov to Rodney Atkins, who today celebrated his fourth No. 1 in a row with Cleaning This Gun, a song that almost never made it to country radio.
Seems there are those in Rodney’s camp who were very concerned that the politically correct crowd wouldn’t take to the idea of a father trying to scare away his daughter’s suitor with a gun.
They moved ahead with the song, but at first, the song was called Come on In, Boy.
Then it got changed back to Cleaning This Gun.
But the whole behind-the-scenes hullabaloo is why you never saw a video for Cleaning This Gun, though one was planned, and it was gonna star comedian Larry the Cable Guy.
“You don’t wanna wind up with the vision of kids with guns,” Rodney told me today.
Rodney also was afraid a video for the song might perpetuate Southern stereotypes.
“So what’re ya gonna do, have the big farmer with the Bubba teeth and a gun and a pretty daughter. How do you go about it?” he said.
The good news for Rodney and the songwriters is that the song went No. 1 anyway — and his label saved $100,000 or so by not making the video.
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