Cut By Cut cont...

Little Luck of Our Own (Lisa Dale Daniel, Gary Burr)............things don't go right. In fact, sometimes they go horribly wrong. This song acknowledges that, but answers that the solution to bad luck is making your own good luck. "I think that's a great optimistic way to look at a relationship and the importance of what you can achieve together, as opposed to to trying to do it alone," says keith.

You're the Only One (Michael Weinstein, Stevie Jordan, keith urban) Stevie J, who has produced such artists as Mariah Carey, R Kelly and Puff Daddy and the Family, loved keith's approach to music and was impressed with his talent. keith, in turn, admired Stevie J's R&B work and his use of rhythm. The two decided it would be interesting to see what would happen if they collaborated. "You're The Only One" came out of one of their jamming sessions. As a rolling melody began to emerge, keith repeated the phrase "You're The Only One" and they just filled in the blanks afterwards. "I had gone through a dark period and told my girl to get out of my life, and it wasn't until she left that I realized how much I needed her around," says keith. "Suddenly I realized that I was wrong and couldn't see how she would ever trust me again. The lyrics are from the point of view of a guy telling a girl to trust him, even though the guy she was with before broke her heart. But the other guy I'm writing about in this song is actually the old me.

If You Wanna Stay (keith urban)......"I know people will hear this song and think, 'oh some girl is ruining this poor guy's life.' Actually, I'm the person I wrote about," says keith. "A couple of years back, being the musician that I am, and the kind of person that I am, I would go through phases of feeling that I wasn't focusing on my music and was becoming too domesticated. So I'd get out of the relationship I was in. Then I'd realize that I was lonely and go back. I'd keep doing that - going back and forward, back and forward. I turned the situation around on myself and wrote 'If You Wanna Stay.'

Don't Shut Me Out (keith urban)......."This is about me, too," keith admits. He wrote it during a bleak time in his life, when his reaction to bad times was to isolate himself and refuse to share his thoughts with anyone. "Months afterward I came across the song and it struck a chord. I was able to listen to it as an outsider, and heard it as a pointed message to myself. I try to find the optimistic side, even during bleak periods in my life. This whole album is about seeing the light, rather than letting yourself get pulled into the midst of bad feelings and feeling sorry for yourself.

Out On My Own (Vernon Rust, keith urban).....devastating loneliness that you feel after the end of a long relationship can be crippling at first. This song recognizes that, but keith added a positive spin at the end. "In the studio I was just adlibbing and said, 'It's gonna be all right,' at the end of the song.

Rollercoaster (keith urban, Matt Rollings).... like so many kids learning to play guitar, keith used to play certain records – by Jerry Reed, Mark Knopfler and Lindsey Buckingham particularly – over and over again, to learn every note. "I've always been a fan of complex instrumentals. Hopefully this song continues that tradition," says keith. "It's actually not as complex as it sounds and if a guitar player is inspired to try to learn this, I think they'll have fun." The song offers a bit of lightheartedness to the emotional themes that dominate the album. "It's a bit of ginger with the sushi," says keith.

I Thought You Knew (Matt Rollings, Skip Ewing, keith urban) .....this is about a huge fight. Words spoken in anger. Those angry words weren't true, didn't she know? He just assumed that she did. And so with this giant hurt and regret still fresh in his heart, keith tried to translate it to music, and came up with the title, "The Man Who Assumed." He brought the idea to Skip Ewing and Matt Rollings. "Skip told me to forget the title," keith recalls. "He said, 'just tell me what you've gone through.' He took everything I said and crafted it into lyric form, which I couldn't do because I had just gone through it. Matt, meanwhile started tinkling on the piano, coming up with various melodies. It was a really interesting three-way writing process, because I brought absolutely all of the story, Matt did the majority of the music and Skip wrote the lyrics. I had to put it on the record."