Country music singer Zach Bryan released American Heartbreak in 2022, three years after he released his first album. If you’ve been wondering about the meaning of Zach Bryan’s song The Good I’ll Do, continue reading as we dive into the specifics of this ballad.
Personal And Professional Start
Bryan was born in Japan due to his family being in the Navy and deployed overseas. He ended up growing up in Oologah, Oklahoma, once his family had relocated back to America, and he began writing songs when he was just 14 years old. When he was 17, he enlisted in the Navy and served on Active Duty for a total of seven years. During his downtime, he would write music, and in 2017, he began to put some of his music on YouTube.
He released his first album in 2019 named DeAnn, which he dedicated to his mom, and in 2020, he released an album called Elisabeth. In 2021, at the age of 25, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and honorably discharged from the military. It was after his discharge that he debuted at the Grand Ole Opry and soon landed a record deal with Warner Records.
The Origins
The Good I’ll Do was the first single that was released from his 2022 album American Heartbreak. Ryan Hadlock, Eddie Spear, and Louie Nice produced this album while Bryan wrote the album in its entirety, which spans five years of his love life and general life experiences.
He talked about where the album itself comes from, which is just day-to-day life and all of the trials and tribulations we all go through on a regular basis. He mentions that true love often means having your heart ripped out and glued back together all within a short time.
This is a tribute song to his new relationship and this new love that walked into his life. He wrote about how this woman has brought out the best in him and given him a renewed sense of purpose.
The Music Video
There is not currently an official music video for The Good I’ll Do, although many fan videos have been made since it was released. When you search for the video on his YouTube Channel, you’ll just see the American Heartbreak album cover in its place.
Chart Performance
The Good I’ll Do landed on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart on December 10, 2022, and peaked at number 35. This popular track stayed on the Hot Country Songs chart for 14 weeks! He topped Ashley Gorley on the Country Songwriters chart and held the number one position on the chart for 38 weeks.
It also landed on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart on June 4, 2022, and peaked at number 21 on February 4, 2023. In total, the track spent 20 weeks on this chart. While this song wasn’t his hottest track on the charts, it still managed to do pretty well and helped him gain more fans and followers.
The Lyrics
When you comb through the lyrics of The Good I’ll Do, you can see that this song is going into detail about how having the right person by your side will allow you to grow. True love can help you become a better person, which you can hear in the lyric “Well, in you, I’m new.”
He uses specific imagery to convey what true love feels like in sight, smells, and genuine emotions. For example, when he says “…you got flames all in your eyes, As they reflect the sparkler,” he is talking about how her eyes are beautiful and lit up just by the flame coming off of the sparkler. He hopes she will keep on loving him just as he loves her as he says “Grab me by the hands, just as callused as I am and say you’re proud.”
You also get this same feeling when he says “Won’t you tell me that you need me, ‘cause lately I’ve been needin’, Someone to remind me.” You can easily see that he is seeking our reassurance from his new love that she’s into him for more than just the night.
The lyrics of The Good I’ll Do are deep and romantic, with an introspective look at how one true love has the ability to give you the motivation and determination to live as good of a life as possible. He allowed you to peek into his life and see what this woman has given him, and it’s a song full of appreciation and joy.
So…What’s It About?
The Good I’ll Do is all about how Bryan found a new woman and how she has been bringing out the best in him. This love has given him a new zest for life, and he talks about how he wants to always be with her.
When you hear this, you’ll notice how devoted he has become to this new woman when he talks about how he’s more than willing to do whatever he can to make her happy. You feel the love he has for her as he speaks of her beauty as her face is lit up by the sparkler light.
This track is all about being in love and how love has the power to change anything and everything. The hope in The Good I’ll Do is that the woman will end up needing him as much as he needed her to come into his life and change it for the better.
Media Reception
In 2023, Bryan won in the New Male Artist of the Year category at the Academy of Country Music Awards. He was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance for one of the other songs on the American Heartbreak album, which is Something In The Orange. As far as The Good I’ll Do goes, it has not been nominated for any awards.
Use In Series
You can hear the entire track The Good I’ll Do in Yellowstone, which is a Paramount+ show you’ll need a subscription to watch. The song appears in the fifth season, fourth episode, and it’s a scene where horses are being loaded into trucks. The wranglers of Yellowstone and Poison Creek are seen driving the cattle to an area in a field so that they can be branded.
At this point, we haven’t seen The Good I’ll Do appear in a movie, although it’ll likely happen in the future given the romantic lyrics within this hit track. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see it pop up again in the future in a movie with themes of love or romance.
Recommended Next:
The meaning of “Something In The Orange” by Zach Bryan
From the time she was little, Florence loved listening to music and quickly learned how music can make you happy and feel fulfilled. One of her favorite memories is being in the garage with her dad working on classic cars with the local rock station blaring in the background. Ever since Florence was 3, she loved grunge music and spent hours listening to bands such as Alice in Chains, Mad Season, Soul Asylum, and Soundgarden.
She also enjoys classic rock, modern rock, nu metal, alternative rock, and old 90’s R&B. Her love of music grew as she got older, and used music to help her get through tough times in her life. More often than not, you’ll see Florence with earbuds in while she’s writing, cooking, cleaning, and doing other tasks. She also loves to debate music with her friends such as which lead singer is the best vocalist, the most iconic guitar solos in music, and what songs are really the best of the decade.
