"Cut You In"
Single by Jerry Cantrell
from the album Boggy Depot
ReleasedJanuary 1998 (Radio)[1]
March 10, 1998 (CD single)[2][3]
RecordedApril–November 1997
Studio• Studio D in Sausalito, California[4]
• Record Plant in Sausalito[4]
• Paradise Sound in Index, Washington[4]
• Studio X in Seattle[4]
GenreAlternative metal, hard rock[5]
Length3:23
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Jerry Cantrell
Producer(s)Jerry Cantrell, Toby Wright
Jerry Cantrell singles chronology
"Leave Me Alone"
(1996)		 "Cut You In"
(1998)		 "My Song"
(1998)

"Cut You In" is a song by American rock musician Jerry Cantrell. It was the lead single from his 1998 debut solo album Boggy Depot. The song is arguably the album's best known track and spent 23 weeks on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, peaking at No. 5.[6] It also spent 15 weeks on the Alternative Songs chart and peaked at No. 15.[7] In its first five days, "Cut You In" was the #1 most added track at Rock and Alternative radio with more than 1,000 spins and an audience of more than nine million.[8] The song received airplay on major New York City and Los Angeles radio stations who, in anxious anticipation, jumped the record's official release date.[1] On Billboard's list of Top Mainstream Rock Songs of the Decade, the song ranked at No. 16 for the year of 1998.[9]

Lyrics

On the April 18, 1998 issue of Billboard magazine, Jerry Cantrell said of the song:

The song is directed at the type of folk who ride with you when shit is good. But when your situation turns south, they're the first to bail–unlike true friends.[10]

Overview

Considering his previous work in Alice in Chains, "Cut You In" could be deemed unusual for Cantrell's style with its heavy use of horns performed by Angelo Moore of Fishbone. The track also includes Mike Inez on bass and begins with an acoustic guitar chord progression soon accompanied by quiet harmonized vocals. However, a little ways in, the song suddenly bursts into a loud chorus filled with shouted vocals, heavy guitar, and horns. It continues this shift from a quiet acoustic verse to a booming chorus. Cantrell recalled in an interview:

"I was pretty hammered when I wrote that tune - I just started humming this thing I had in my head, and I grabbed this guitar I made in high school - it's a white Strat that I call Embo. Anyway, I grabbed the guitar and wrote it out in about 20 to 30 minutes."[11]

The song lyrically makes reference to drug users and their poor loyalty to one another. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone called the song a "brutal drug-buddy farewell."[12]

Music video

An award-nominated music video directed by Peter Christopherson was made to accompany the single and debuted on MTV's 120 Minutes on March 15, 1998.[8] The video features no musical performance, other than Cantrell's singing. It begins with a middle-aged man driving a 1972 Dodge Challenger down a Southwestern highway only to find Cantrell standing alone. The man picks up Cantrell, who remains laid back with one foot out the passenger window while turning the car's radio dial. They stop at a truck flipped on the side of the road, and the concerned driver hurries over to the vehicle for inspection. Cantrell, remaining seated, then takes the wheel and drives off with the man's car as the song's explosive chorus begins. He intentionally drives toward a semi-truck head-on before swerving away and stopping at a gas station.

Cantrell speaks to an attractive woman outside and enters the store, passing drummer Sean Kinney at the doorway. Another man, clearly played by Kinney with a fake mustache and sideburns, begins inspecting Cantrell's stolen car and steals it with the woman. Cantrell exits the store just in time to jump in as well. They travel to a small town where the car's constant high speed and swerving causes a small vehicular catastrophe at the dismay of observing townspeople.

The trio make their way to a roadblock created by two state patrol cars. The sheriff is played by Cantrell's father.[13] Kinney and the woman surrender to the police and are quickly apprehended. However, Cantrell, hidden in the backseat, sneaks up to the driver's seat and takes off once again. A police chase ensues through the desert until Cantrell tosses an explosive out the window, creating a large fireball. This confuses and ultimately stops the officers who appear to think it was Cantrell's vehicle that exploded. A final shot reveals Cantrell standing alone in the desert sunset.

After hosting an online chat with Cantrell on July 22, 1998, MTV held the "Jerry Cantrell's Muscle Car Madness" contest. As a result, the winner was awarded the '72 Challenger used in the "Cut You In" video. She also won a free trip to Los Angeles to meet Cantrell backstage.[14]

The "Cut You In" music video was nominated for Best Hard Rock/Metal Clip and Best New Hard Rock/Metal Artist Clip by the 'blue ribbon panels' of the 1998 Billboard Music Awards. Cantrell was scheduled to present an award at the ceremony but canceled in favor of his rescheduled, previously canceled tour dates.[15]

Reception and award nominations

Virtually all major editorial reviews of Boggy Depot commended the album's lead single. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine chose "Cut You In" as the sole AMG Pick off the album[16] while Billboard called the song "propulsive."[17] In direct response to the song, Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield commented that "[Cantrell's] songwriting has its moments."[12] and Marc Weingarten of Guitar World and called it "a twisted samba."[11] In relation to Cantrell's previous work, Aidin Vaziri of the San Francisco Chronicle called "Cut You In" "the next best thing to an Alice in Chains B-side."[18]

Personnel

Chart positions

Chart (1998) Peak
position
Canada Rock/Alternative (RPM)[19] 8
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[20] 5
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[21] 15

References

  1. 1 2 Next Stop, 'Boggy Depot' Archived 2004-09-12 at the Wayback Machine Columbia Records' Daily Dish (January 30, 1998). Retrieved on 7-07-09.
  2. ↑ "Jerry Cantrell - Cut You In". Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  3. ↑ Jerry Cantrell – Cut You In discogs.com. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Jerry Cantrell – Boggy Depot". Discogs.
  5. ↑ "Cut You In by Jerry Cantrell". Amazon. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Jerry Cantrell Chart History - Mainstream Rock". Billboard. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Jerry Cantrell "Cut You In" Chart History - Alternative Songs". Billboard. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  8. 1 2 "Jerry Gets A Band". jerrycantrell.com. Archived from the original on September 8, 1999. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Top Mainstream Rock Songs Of The Decade" AllBusiness.com (December 3, 1999). Retrieved on 7-07-09.
  10. ↑ Carrie Bell (April 18, 1998). "The Modern Age". Billboard. p. 73. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  11. 1 2 Weingarten, Marc Unchained Archived July 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Guitar World (June 1998). Retrieved on 7-07-09.
  12. 1 2 Sheffield, Rob (March 23, 1998). "Jerry Cantrell: Boggy Depot". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 10, 2007. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Alice in Chains - Jerry Cantrell Phone Interview". July 22, 2007. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  14. ↑ MTV Online Chat w/ Jerry Cantrell Archived September 8, 2004, at the Wayback Machine MTV (July 22, 1998). Retrieved on 7-07-09.
  15. ↑ October 25, 1998 Archived March 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Jerry Depot (October 25, 1998). Retrieved 7-07-09.
  16. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas Boggy Depot Allmusic (1998). Retrieved on 7-07-09.
  17. ↑ Boggy Depot Billboard (April 18, 1998). Retrieved on 7-07-09.
  18. ↑ Vaziri, Aidin Q & A with Jerry Cantrell Archived 2004-09-30 at the Wayback Machine San Francisco Chronicle (April 12, 1998). Retrieved on 7-07-09.
  19. ↑ "Top RPM Rock/Alternative Tracks: Issue 3566." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Jerry Cantrell Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Jerry Cantrell Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
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