"Not Ready to Make Nice" | ||||||||||||||||
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Single by Dixie Chicks | ||||||||||||||||
from the album Taking the Long Way | ||||||||||||||||
Released | June 5, 2006 | |||||||||||||||
Format | Digital download, radio airplay, CD single | |||||||||||||||
Recorded | December 2005 | |||||||||||||||
Genre | Country | |||||||||||||||
Length | 3:55 | |||||||||||||||
Label | Columbia Nashville | |||||||||||||||
Writer(s) | Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Emily Robison, Dan Wilson | |||||||||||||||
Producer(s) | Rick Rubin | |||||||||||||||
Dixie Chicks singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||
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"Not Ready to Make Nice" is a song co-written and performed by American country music band Dixie Chicks. It was released in June 2006 as the first single from the band's seventh studio album, Taking the Long Way. It remains the band's biggest hit in the US to date. The song was written by Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire, Emily Robison, and Dan Wilson.
On February 11, 2007, it won three Grammy Awards in the categories of Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
In 2009, Rolling Stone named "Not Ready to Make Nice" the 77th best song of the decade.
Controversy erupted over the Dixie Chicks in 2003 following a critical comment vocalist Natalie Maines made on the American President George W. Bush while performing in a concert in London, United Kingdom. In relation to the forthcoming invasion of Iraq, Maines said, "...we don't want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas."
Taking the Long Way was the first studio album released by the Dixie Chicks after that. The controversy, and the band's reaction to it, is the major theme of some of the songs in the album, including "Not Ready to Make Nice".
The song, which was written by all three band members (Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Maguire) along with Dan Wilson, is a statement of how they feel over the controversy, the banning of their songs from country music radio stations, and freedom of speech.