Naomi Cooke Johnson Takes on the World in Gutsy New Song, ‘Living Ain’t Killed Me Yet’ [Listen]
Naomi Cooke Johnson is taking the statement, “You only live once” and setting it ablaze with her newest song, “Livin’ Ain’t Killed Me Yet.”
For the former Runaway June singer, these are lyrics she’s lived.
"My career has been nothing but falling and getting back up,” Cooke Johnson tells Taste of Country. “Getting kicked and picked while kicking and pickin’ right back. Chasing a dream and scrapping my way out of a poverty upbringing has been a lot more heartbreak and hard knocks than highs times. But every time I’ve wanted to quit, but got up and moved forward anyway has rewarded me in ways greater than I ever imagined.”
“Livin’ Ain’t Killed Me Yet” declares that life will inevitably throw you curveballs, but it’s up to you to decide to get back on the horse and keep going.
"Gonna ride this ride, even if it breaks me / I don’t mind if they call me crazy / Nobody knows how long we got left / Livin’ ain’t killed me yet," Cooke Johnson sings in the chorus.
"I wanna drive too fast ‘til I break the motor / Raise my glass ‘til the party’s over / Dancing myself to the edge of death."
The instrumentals on the track pack a punch. This song hints at rock infusions as Cooke's declaration swings on the chords of the fiery electric guitar, the rhythm kept by the bolstering of the drums.
After welcoming her first child back in June, this song holds as a note of wisdom as her daughter grows older.
“I had to take big take chances and have hard falls and learn hard lessons from an early age, and it made the world a lot less scary,” she says. “I hope to always be there to comfort her through a hard time and help her get back up, but never rescue her. I hope that will help her become a strong woman who can take on a tough world.”
“Livin’ Ain’t Killed Me Yet” is the second song Cooke Johnson recently released. She gave fans a nibble of the general vibe you can expect from her going forward. On Instagram, she posted a graphic that shows her in an outside you’d see at a race car race, a motorcycle on fire, with an American flag waving behind her. It oozes American pride met with a hell-raising and sultry disposition.