Exclusive Download: Chuck Ragan's 'You Get What You Give'

Chuck Ragan

Scott Toepfer

Click to listen to Chuck Ragan's 'You Get What You Give'

Singer-songwriter Chuck Ragan has racked up many miles touring five continents over the past two decades. His latest album, Covering Ground, is a collection of songs he wrote on the road or about the road. In explaining the inspiration behind his latest track, the Americana rocker "You Get What You Give," he says, "There is always a struggle finding balance doing what we love. Above all, holding true to that original passion rather than sinking into a self-absorbed world which is addicted to self-gratification, attention and spotlight." These beliefs helped him come up with the theme – and the title – of the track. "In the end, it comes down to a single choice of how we decide to treat people and ourselves. What goes around comes around; and sooner or later whether we like it or not, we will get what we give." Covering Ground will hit stores on September 13th, but you can download "You Get What You Give" for free here.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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