Lights Come On By Jason Aldean - Songfacts

Toggle navigation

• Home
• Categories
• Places
• Blog
  • Blogs Home
  • News
  • Lists
  • Features
  • Songwriter Interviews
  • Song Writing
  • Fact or Fiction
  • They're Playing My Song
  • Music Quiz
  • Songfacts Pages
  • Songwriting Legends
  • Songfacts Podcast
  • All Titles
  • Authors
    • Amanda Flinner
    • April Fox
    • Bruce Pollock
    • Carl Wiser
    • Corey O'Flanagan
    • Dan MacIntosh
    • Developer
    • Ed Pearce
    • Greg Prato
    • Jeff Suwak
    • Jess Grant
    • Laura Antonelli
    • Leslie Michele Derrough
    • Maggie Grimason
    • Nicole Roberge
    • Roger Catlin
    • Shawna Ortega
    • Stephanie Myers
    • Trevor Morelli
• Browse
  • Songs
  • Artists
  • Places
  • Years
  • Categories

Search

Lights Come Onby Jason Aldean

Album: They Don't Know (2016)Charted: 43 License This Song  artistfacts

Songfacts®:

• The first single from Jason Aldean's seventh studio album is about the rush he gets from performing and listening to fans singing along to every word. "Being on stage is why I do what I do; it's all I've ever wanted to do," Aldean said. ["Lights Come On"] is about throwing the biggest party, from the floor to the top of the rafters, for all those people who spent their paycheck to come see us."
• The song is an ode to Aldean's day job. "The phrase, 'when the lights come on' to me, it's time to go to work," he explained. "You have a lot of people out here who spent money to buy a ticket to see our show. It's our job to go out every night and make sure they have a great time and forget whatever cares they've got going on and to let loose for a little while."
• The video goes behind the scenes during Jason Aldean's Six String Circus Tour. It also serves as a celebration of the party atmosphere the singer creates with his shows. "I used to think it was cool to go and sell out a little night club somewhere or a little theater that we were playing," Aldean says at the clip's start. "Now, every night to play an arena or amphitheater or stadium and this many people are here to watch your show and sing your songs back to you, it exceeds anything I've ever dreamed up."
• Aldean explained the visual's concept. "That's what I really wanted to capture with this video…that moment we step on stage and give it everything we have," he said. "I want the fans to forget their cares and let loose for a few hours. They're the ones who have allowed us to stay around this long. They're still here supporting us, and that is why we do what we do every night."
• When Jason Aldean originally came across this tune he was eager to record it, but there was one problem. "We had already recorded a song called 'Lights Go Out' for the album," he recalled to ABC Radio. "And then at the last minute, we got this song called 'Lights Come On,' and we're like 'Well, this has to make the record too,' and obviously, it ended up being our first single. So we felt pretty strongly about that, but we already had the other one recorded, so we were like, 'OK, well this is gonna be really… weird on the album.'""We figured, what was a cool way to try and you know, tie it in? And it was by kicking the album off with 'Lights Come On' and ending the album with 'Lights Go Out.' We tried to make it clever," Aldean added laughing, "but it was not, you know, an intentional thing in the beginning that we went out and tried to find those songs. They just kinda fell in our lap."
• The song was written by Florida Georgia Line's Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard, along with songwriters Jordan Schmidt, Jimmy Robbins and brothers Brad and Brett Warren. Brad Warren explained to The Boot that the sextet didn't originally have Jason Aldean in mind when they started out on the tune."We were trying to write a show-opener for Florida Georgia Line. That was the point of the day: They were looking for a show-opener. So, Brett has the title, and we had talked about it the day before a little bit, and kind of got something working. The song started sounding great, and we were all like, 'Wow, this is turning into a great track. This is really something. This is good'" And somewhere in the middle, BK said, 'This would be great for Jason Aldean.' I said, 'Oh no. This is for you.'"He added: "That never works out. When you're writing with one big artist and they say it would be good for another big artist, certainly that's not going to work out. So we figured that we wasted our day, but we had good fellowship. And then, two days later — that was a Friday, and Monday, Jason Aldean cut it."

• More songs from Jason Aldean
• More songs about music
• More songs from 2016
• Jason Aldean Artistfacts

Your name as you would like it displayed Your Locaton Your Comment send your comment

Comments

Be the first to comment...

More Songfacts:

Freedom '90George Michael

Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Tatjana Patitz lip-synched George Michael's lyrics in his "Freedom '90" video.

Step Inside LoveCilla Black

Paul McCartney's favorite song that he wrote for someone else is Cilla Black's 1968 UK Top 10 hit "Step Inside Love."

PossessionSarah McLachlan

Sarah McLachlan's "Possession" contains passages from letters a stalker sent her. He sued her for using them but died by suicide before the trial.

White ChristmasBing Crosby

Bing Crosby debuted the song "White Christmas" in the 1942 movie Holiday Inn, where he plays a New Yorker stuck in Southern California for Christmas and missing the snow. The song became a Christmas classic and the basis for the 1954 movie White Christmas, also starring Crosby.

Start Me UpThe Rolling Stones

One of the first hit songs used in a major marketing campaign was "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones. Microsoft paid $3 million to use it in commercials for Windows '95.

Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)Edison Lighthouse

The love is growing in the '70s hit "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" because rosemary is the name of an herb.

Editor's Picks

Gary LeVoxSongwriter Interviews

On "Life Is A Highway," his burgeoning solo career, and the Rascal Flatts song he most connects with.

Chad Channing (Nirvana, Before Cars)Songwriter Interviews

Chad tells tales from his time as drummer for Nirvana, and talks about his group Before Cars.

Edie BrickellSongwriter Interviews

Edie Brickell on her collaborations with Paul Simon, Steve Martin and Willie Nelson, and her 2021 album with the New Bohemians.

Gary Louris of The JayhawksSongwriter Interviews

The Jayhawks' song "Big Star" has special meaning to Gary, who explains how longevity and inspiration have trumped adulation.

Fire On The StageSong Writing

When you have a song called "Fire," it's tempting to set one - these guys did.

Adam Young of Owl CitySongwriter Interviews

Is Owl City on a quest for another hit like "Fireflies?" Adam answers that question and explains the influences behind many others.

Songfacts® Newsletter

A monthly update on our latest interviews, stories and added songs

What's your email? SUBSCRIBE

Information

• About Us
• Terms of Service
• Our Privacy Policy
• Google Privacy Policy
• Songfacts API
• Music History Calendar
• Song Licensing
• Affiliate Disclosure
• Contact Us
• Privacy Manager

Follow Us

• Facebook
• X (Twitter)
• YouTube

Contribution

• Message Boards
• Songfacts Writers

©2026 Songfacts, LLC