Noah Kahan added Kacey Musgraves and new lyrics to his song "She Calls Me Back." The duet comes with a fresh second verse that makes the song more of a conversation than one man's torment.

  • "She Calls Me Back" original appeared as a solo song on Kahan's Stick Season album (2023).
  • Musgraves' duet with Zach Bryan ("I Remember Everything") sits at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, after debuting at No. 1.
  • Kahan also has a duet with Bryan called "Sarah's Place" that landed at No. 4 this week.

Fans of the song will immediately notice the new lyrics. While Kahan's first verse, chorus and pre-chorus remain unchanged, everything pivots when Musgraves starts to sing the second verse. She's literally answering him.

Original Kahan verse: "If only I could wake you up / If only I could fall asleep / I'll love you when the ocean's dry / I'll love you when the rivers freeze."

Musgraves' version: "If you think that you could wake me up / Then you don’t know how well I sleep / You love me and I don’t know why / I only call you once a week."

The original bridge is scrapped, and after a Musgraves-led pre-chorus and chorus, they sing the song's final lyrics together. Sonically, the songs rely on the same arrangement. Kahan is the sole songwriter of both versions of his song.

Noah Kahan and Kacey Musgraves, "She Calls Me Back" Lyrics:

Chorus: (Kahan)
Oh, there was Heaven in your eyes / I was not baptized / Everything's alright when /
She calls me back, she calls me back / Lost for a long time / Two parallel lines / Everything's alright when / She calls me back, she calls me back.

Look at me and don't you lie / I could be your sacrifice / But don't you hold your head up high / For bulls—t, I do not have time / I can be an old tattoo / To remind me when I get bad news / And I do not exist to die / But live to die while saving you.

Pre-chorus:
Does it bite at your edges / Do you lie awake restless / Why am I so obsessive / Hanging onto every sentence / This town's the same as you left it / Your page was blank but I read it / I still dial 822-993-167.

Repeat Chorus

Musgraves:
I’m running out of tears to cry / They’re gone before they hit my cheeks / Maybe it’s the air out here / Or maybe something’s changed in me / If you think that you could wake me up / Then you don’t know how well I sleep / You love me and I don’t know why / I only call you once a week.

Repeat Pre-Chorus (Musgraves)

Repeat Chorus (Kahan and Musgraves)

All the pain I should have saved / Oh, I was too afraid of living life in your footsteps / In your heart or in your head / Oh, I was too afraid of living life in your footsteps / Living life in your footsteps / Living life in your footsteps / Still she calls me back / Still she calls me.

The Top 40 Country Songs of 2023, Ranked

The best country songs of 2023 fit snug over your life and experiences. Each is written from personal experiences, but somehow, that translates as if it were custom to each of us. We've loved, we've longed, we've lost and we've cut loose in the country.

Airplay charts, sales data and streaming numbers helped make this list of country music's Top 40 songs of 2023, but staff and Taste of Country reader opinion were most influential. Songs included on previous Top Country Songs lists were not eligible. A song may have been released in 2022, but it had to have the majority of recorded airplay or impact this year to count.

Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes

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