Tim McGraw Returns With Self-Reflective New Single ‘Standing Room Only’

Tim McGraw returns with an introspective new song, “Standing Room Only.”

“I wanna live a life … like a dollar and the clock on the wall don’t own me,” McGraw sings on the new track, with a live-life-to-the-fullest message similar to that of his 2004 hit “Live Like You Were Dying.” The lyrics to “Standing Room Only” elevate forgiveness and human connection — or as the song goes, “Live a life so when I die/ There’s standing room only.”

“Standing Room Only” was written by Craig Wiseman, Tommy Cecil and Patrick Murphy, with production from Byron Gallimore and McGraw. Wiseman also co-wrote “Live Like You Were Dying,” which spent seven weeks atop Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart.

McGraw recently talked about “Standing Room Only” on The Bobby Bones Show, saying, “Lyrically, there’s not a wasted line anywhere in this song. It’s such an impeccably written song, and then the melody I love. When you get into the studio to record, you’re scared to death that you are going to go in and screw up a song. ‘Humble and Kind,’ I had that song for a year before I recorded it, because when you hear [“Humble and Kind” songwriter] Lori McKenna sing with just an acoustic guitar, it just doesn’t get much better than that.”

McGraw added, “It’s rare to find a song that has this much lyrical content and this much meaning, it says so much, but still have this sort of high energy. It’s rare to find that combination of not quite a ballad, not quite an up-tempo, but still deep, lyrically.”

The song is the title track to McGraw’s upcoming 17th studio album, set to release on Big Machine Records.

“I’m finishing up the album now, all the final mixes,” he said during his visit to The Bobby Bones Show. “I cut around 30 [songs] probably. That’s hard, too, because I don’t take anything in unless I like it, so to cull them down to the ones that don’t make the record — I always leave stuff on the floor that I love.”

Watch his interview with Bobby Bones below: