Gonna Know We Were Here

This song about leaving your mark was written by: Brett Beavers, who has produced and co-written several of Dierk Bentley's country #1 songs, including "Come A Little Closer," "Feel That Fire" and "Sideways." Brett James, who has penned country chart-toppers for Jessica Andrews ("Who I Am"), Martina McBride ("Blessed"), Kenny Chesney ("Out Last Night," "Reality") Kenny Chesney and Uncle Kracker ("When the Sun Goes Down"), Carrie Underwood ("Jesus, Take The Wheel," "Cowboy Casanova,") Rodney Atkins ("It's America"), Jason Aldean ("The Truth"), Chris Young ("The Man I Want to Be") and Miranda Lambert & Carrie Underwood ("Somethin' Bad").

Jason Aldean explained the song's meaning to Entertainment.ie: "In the grand scheme of these we're here for a short period of time and 'Gonna Know We Here' is that type of song where it's like we may not be here for very long, but we're going to make the best of it while we are," he said. "By the time we leave, we're going to make some noise and people are going to remember us and I think everybody wants to feel that way and you don't want to feel like you rolled through life and when it's over like nobody cares." "You want to leave your mark and I think the song 'Gonna Know We Here' is about doing that," Aldean added; "it's about making the best of your time and leaving your mark on the world."

This song originated with Brett Beavers' contemplations on mortality and the fact that as people pass, most of their contributions to the world are lost or forgotten. "I had that thought rolling around in my head for a while from a spiritual standpoint, like, 'Hey, 100 years from now it's not going to matter,'" he told Billboard magazine. "I kind of coupled that with wanting to leave a mark. We want to do something significant or something to where they'll remember us." Beavers brought up the idea when he arrived for a writing appointment at the home of Brett James. "We kind of got into a long, deep conversation about that," James recalled. "'How much of our existence is going to be remembered long term?' We had a conversation about that, and then it turned into a Bonnie & Clyde, tear-up-the-world kind of song." As the duo started working on the song a 'Let's live fast' theme developed. "It's not necessarily 'live fast, die young,' but if we do [die young], that's OK," said James. "Overall, it's a personality rather than a specific lyric."