The song describes a downbeat character who struggles to come to terms with the collapse of a relationship. Since home is where the heartache is coming from, he decides to withstand the barrage of memories at a bar.[1]
Critical reception
Gary Graff of Billboard wrote that the song was "shoot-from-the- hip cleverness".[2] The song got a "thumbs up" from Blake Boldt of Engine 145, whose review praised the production for "bel[ying] the narrator’s disappointment" and called the song "brooding", also saying that it proved that Keith "has quite a few creative tricks left up his sleeve".[1] Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe gave the song a B rating, saying that "does breakup about as good as anybody" and that he doesn't believe Keith is "capable of turning in a weak vocal performance."[3] Bobby Peacock of Roughstock gave the song a 3.5/5 rating, saying that the production is "looser and funkier" than on Keith's other songs. He goes on to say that it "contrasts with the more downbeat lyrics of a fairly standard broken-heart song."[4]
Jessica Phillips of Country Weekly described the song less favorably, saying that she considered Keith "more authentic" on the album's title track than on "Somewhere Else".[5] Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Randy Lewis compared it to "Is That All You Got" and "In a Couple of Days", saying that the songs "have a few nice writerly details in their romance-gone-bad setups, but they don't offer much wisdom."[6]
