Life Lessons From Lyrics and a Conversation

Music superstar Kenny Chesney is taking some of his own lyrical advice by not touring in 2010. I'll tell you what convinced him in a minute.

Chesney is at the top of his game, more popular than ever, selling out concerts and regularly hitting the top of the concert revenue charts as well as the music sales charts. He decided to slow all of that down to take time off to actually live his life.

This the same Kenny Chesney who sings "Don't Blink":

'Cause when your hourglass runs outta sand
You can't flip it over, start again
Life goes faster than you think
Don't blink

and "Living in Fast Forward":

I’m always runnin’, son-of-a-gunnin’
I’ve had a good time, it’s true
But the way I been goin’
It’s time that I tone it down just a notch or two
I’ve been livin' in fast forward
Now I need to rewind real slow


What finally convinced him to slow down? A conversation with another music superstar ... Bruce Springsteen.

Kenny says, "He told me something that hit me really hard, and it's stuck with me ever since... Kenny, you can write half a song on a piece of paper, and you can put that piece of paper away in a drawer for five years, and you can go back to it, and that song will still be there. But life isn't like that. And whatever you're doing, don't miss your life, too."

Me and Kenny a few years ago, at 9:30am. We spiked his orange juice. Can you tell?

Kenny will be traveling, working on a new album and catching up with himself during his time off.

There is definitely a lesson in that, summed up by Springstein's advice: don't miss your life, too.