We want to give credit along with any interesting information we find along the way about the song. All songs on this site are performed by Retta Stone, but they are cover songs, so each song is listed below with the artist version we have covered, along with the copyright information.

All Songs on this website
© 1999-2012 Lead Vocals Retta Stone. All Rights Reserved.

26 Cents
© 1998 The Wilkinsons, Nothing But Love. Steve Wilkinson was born on August 18, 1955 in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Before the country trio formed, he was struggling to make ends meet after he lost his job at a nuclear power plant due to downsizing. He took menial jobs in order to provide for his family, but music was his real passion. Their success in the music world began in 1998 when The Wilkinsons moved to the heart of country music, Nashville, Tennessee. Steve and his wife, Christine, along with their three children Amanda, Tyler and Kiaya arrived in Nashville with an old 1982 yellow Cadillac pulling a tent trailer. They performed at an Atlanta club for an investor showcase where Mark Willis asked if he could perform 26 Cents. Steve turned down the offer made by Willis, though he regretted his decision during the four hour drive back to Nashville. However, Steve’s regret was short lived when Reese Wilson invited the group to sing in Nashville’s famous Broken Spoke nightclub. The Wilkinsons amazed the crowd and a record company bidding war commenced. They had been in Nashville for just ten days. While the war ensued, the group met and sang for Vince Gill. Gill was moved to tears by fifteen-year-old Amanda’s powerful voice and surprised the trio by inviting them to sing on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. Gill accompanied The Wilkinsons with the song I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry. Shortly after, the group signed with Giant Records.

Angels Would Fall
© 1999 Melissa Etheridge, Breakdown. Main guitar loop contributed by John Shanks. It is one of her darkest songs as the singer says herself on the bonus DVD of her album Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled: “Breakdown was such a dark period in my life that all the songs were turning out so dark that I even had to go to John Shanks who was producing this album, and I finally said: “Look, do you have any pieces of music maybe I can write to? Because I am scraping on the bottom of my soul.” Angels Would Fall is about a desperate crush Etheridge had on someone else’s girlfriend during her shattered relationship with Julie Cypher. In the verses, she describes the pain she feels because she can tell nobody about her feelings (“The rope that’s wrapped around me is cutting through my skin…”), while in the chorus she is singing the desired person’s praises (“Angels never came down […] but if they knew, if they knew you at all, angels would fall…”). Angels Would Fall was the most successful single of Breakdown. It reached the US Billboard Hot 100, was Etheridge’s third consecutive single peaking at #9 on the Adult Top 40 and her fourth consecutive top 10 hit in the Canadian single charts. There is also an alternative cover for the album.

Best I Ever Had
© 2005 Gary Allan remade this song on his album Tough All Over after his wife committed suicide. The original was done by Vertical Horizon in 1999.

Black Horse and a Cherry Tree
Huge hit for KT Tunstall (also the songwriter) in 2005 from the album Eye to the Telescope. Many stories and urban legends abound about the song creation, but probably the most believable is that she was riding through Scotland on a moped when she came across a Black Horse that had broken free from a corral and was going wild. The heart stopping line in the song came from her having a heart murmur as a child. The song hit Number 1 on tbe U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 charts.

Breathe
©1999 Faith Hill, Breathe. Songwriters Bentley, Lamar. Superstar Faith Hill was born Audrey Faith Perry in Richland, Mississippi. She was adopted as an infant and raised by a couple in the nearby town of Star. At 19, she quit school to move to Nashville and pursue her dream of being a country singer. In her early days in Nashville, Hill auditioned to be a backup singer for Reba McEntire, but failed to secure the job. In 1990 she began a search for her natural mother, whom she eventually met and corresponded with until her mother’s death. During one of her performances (singing backup for Gary Burr) at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, an executive from Warner Bros. Records was in the audience, and, impressed with Hill’s voice, signed her to a recording contract. Shortly after the release of her debut album Take Me As I Am, Hill found her marriage falling apart and divorced in 1994. She followed this with 1995’s It Matters to Me which sold over three million copies. The following year she embarked on the Spontaneous Combustion Tour with fellow country musician Tim McGraw, whom she later married. She took a break from music after her marriage, returning only briefly to record the No. 1 single It’s Your Love with her new husband. She returned in earnest in 1998 with six-times platinum-selling Faith, which was altogether a more mainstream crossover record. She followed this with Breathe (1999) which went on to win three Grammy Awards. Although her country fans were miffed by her crossover, and shocked by the video in which she dons a sheet to lay across a bed in the desert, she was re-adorned with the release of Mississippi Girl in 2005, a song written specifically for her by John Rich (of Big and Rich) and Adam Shoenfield of MuzikMafia, and tells the abbreviated story of her life.

Bubbly
© 2007 Colbie Caillat, Coco. Written by Caillat and Jason Reeves and produced by Colbie’s father, Ken Caillat, the song was released as the debut album’s lead single in May 2007. It remains Caillat’s biggest hit single in the USA to date, and their only one to reach the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Interestingly, the cover photo for the album was taken from a still shot of the video for the song.

Can’t Stop Loving You
2002 Phil Collins, Testify. Songwriter, Billy Nicholls. Can’t Stop Loving You is the tenth song by British singer Phil Collins on his seventh solo album. The song was the lead single from Testify. It is also released as the twelfth track on the first CD of the 2004 compilation album, Love Songs: A Compilation… Old and New. Although it had minor airplay, the song was yet another #1 Billboard adult contemporary smash hit for Collins, his seventh. The song also reached the #10 on the Eurochart.The song was originally recorded by Leo Sayer in 1977. Titled I Can’t Stop Lovin’ You (Though I Try), the song was a top ten hit in the UK, reaching #6 in 1978.[1]

Circle in the Sand
© 1988 Single by Belinda Carlisle from the album Heaven on Earth, Recorded 1987 MCA Records, writers Rick Nowels, Ellen Shipley

Dance With My Father
© 2003 Luther Vandross, Dance with my Father. With help from Richard Marx, Luther Vandross wrote this shortly after he suffered a stroke that eventually killed him two years later. The song is a tribute to his late father, and very poignant as it Luther’s last Top 40 hit peaking at #38. This won the Grammy for Best R&B Male Vocalist, but Vandross was still in treatment so Marx accepted. This song has appeared on several tributes to Vandross, including So Amazing recorded shortly after Vandross’ death. Celine Dion recorded it for the album because she had also lost her father. In 2004, country music singer Kellie Coffey released a cover version which peaked at #41 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts. It was included on her unreleased second studio album A Little More Me.

Dead Man’s Party
© 1985 Oingo Boingo, Danny Elfman, songwriter, composer & producer along with Steve Bartek. This song is about attending funeral and being buried. The lyrics make a few clever references to it Even from the opening line of “All dressed up with nowhere to go/Walking with a dead man over my shoulder.” Later Danny Elfman sings, “Got my best suit and my tie, Shiny silver dollar on either eye, I hear the chauffeur comin’ to the door, Says there’s room for maybe just one more…” Being dressed in his best suit refers to the tradition of dressing the dead in their finest clothes, the silver dollars were once used to weight the eyelids closed, and the dead would pay the ferryman to cross the River Styx from Greek mythology. The chauffeur saying there is room for one more refers to a campfire horror story were a man is woken up in the night by a car honking and as he looks out the window, he sees six of his friends in the car dressed in suits, the driver then tells the man that there is room for one more. Later the man tells a friend the story before dying in a car wreck and the friend believes the man had predicted his own death. This song was featured in the Rodney Dangerfield movie Back To School, where Oingo Boingo play at a college party. The song was one of Oingo Boingo’s most loved by fans, and the dancing skeletons became one of the most recognized symbols of the band. Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo is the well-known composer for many Tim Burton movies, including The Nightmare Before Christmas (on which he is also the singing voice of Jack Skellington), Batman, the theme for the Simpsons, and many, many others. He is also the uncle to actress Jenna Elfman, star of Dharma And Greg.

Dream Big
© 2005 Ryan Shupe. Dream Big is Ryan Shupe & The RubberBand’s third album, independently released in 2003 under the title Hey Hey Hey. It featured 4 tracks that had debuted on the band’s first two albums but re-recorded as well as 8 brand new songs. A similar track listing became available as the band’s major label debut under the title Dream Big when the band signed a record deal with Capitol Nashville. Dream Big is missing the track She’s Bad For Me and does not contain the hidden track Corn Dogs from Hey Hey Hey. “Corn Dogs” has since been officially released as the closing track on the band’s album Last Man Standing.The song “Dream Big”, the band’s only chart single, was also featured in advertisements for the NBC reality show ‘Three Wishes’, which was hosted by Amy Grant.

Everything
A Grammy Award-nominated single by Michael Bublé from his 2007 album Call Me Irresponsible. Unlike most of Bublé’s other music, this song carries an adult contemporary sound. Bublé wrote Everything for his now ex-girlfriend Emily Blunt. He explained: “I wrote that song about the great happiness of real love, but at the same time I was making a statement about the world. We’re living in really crazy times, and I wanted to say that no matter what’s happening, this person in my life is what really makes it worthwhile.” In Italy, the song topped chart in end-April 2007 and again one-year after, in end-June 2008. Written by Michael Bublé, Alan Chang and Amy Foster-Gilles.

Flowers On The Wall
Made famous by country music group The Statler Brothers. Written and composed by the group’s original tenor, Lew DeWitt, the song peaked in popularity in January 1966, spending four weeks at No. 2 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart, and reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was used in the soundtrack to the 1994 film Pulp Fiction. Eric Heatherly recorded the song in 2000 on his debut album, Swimming In Champagne. Also released as his debut single, Heatherly’s rendition reached #6 on the Hot Country Songs charts and #50 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is the version we cover.

Fly
© 1998 The Wilkinsons, Nothing But Love. Founded in 1998, the group comprises lead singer Amanda Wilkinson, her brother Tyler Wilkinson, and their father, Steve Wilkinson. The Wilkinsons achieved success late in 1998 with the hit single 26 Cents, a Number One on the Canadian country music charts and Top 5 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts. It was followed by Fly (The Angel Song), also a #1 in Canada. Although their U.S. success waned after 26 Cents, The Wilkinsons have continued to have singles in the charts in Canada. Lead singer Amanda Wilkinson has also created several solo recordings in addition to her career in The Wilkinsons. The Wilkinsons were also the subject of a fictionalized “reality” television program on the CMT Canada network, The Wilkinsons. The show follows the family as they move back to The Quinte Area, Ontario, from Nashville, Tennessee. In 2006, the show was nominated for Country Music Program or Special of the Year at the Canadian Country Music Awards.

Goodbye
© 1997 The Pretenders, G.I. Jane Soundtrack, songwriter Steve Earle. The Pretenders formed in 1978 as a rock quartet featuring Chrissie Hynde as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist. The band has seen numerous changes in members due to deaths and conflicts, yet Chrissie has remained the focal point and the backbone of the group. Her distinctive vocals and cavalier charm have established her as one of the premier singers of rock and alternative music. Chrissie’s provocative and often personal songwriting skills and singing presentation showed the world that she not only can sing with the big boys of rock, but often surpass their abilities. Chrissie may be the first “chick rocker.” Although Chrissie hails from Akron, Ohio, she made her musical move in England in the early 70s. Before the Pretenders, Chrissie played with a few other bands including Jack Rabbit and the Berk Brothers.

Help Me Make It Through the Night
© 1970 Kris Kristofferson, Kristofferson. So many artists have covered it since, including Peggy Lee, Lynn Anderson and Joan Baez (who later disclosed she was involved with Kristofferson at the time) in 1971, John Holt, Lena Zavoroni, Johnny and June Carter Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Engelbert Humperdinck, UK singer Charlie Landsborough, Martina McBride (the version we cover), and most recently a Mariah Carey version on the internet. The most famous cover would have to be by Sammi Smith taking it to No. 1. The most successful subsequent recording was in 1972 win Gladys Knight & the Pips version. Kristofferson said that he got the inspiration for the song from an Esquire magazine interview with Frank Sinatra. When asked what he believed in, Frank replied, “Booze, broads, or a bible…whatever helps me make it through the night.” Kristofferson’s original lyrics speak of a man’s yearning for sexual intimacy, yet they were controversial in 1971 because they were sung by a woman: I don’t care what’s right or wrong, I don’t try to understand / Let the devil take tomorrow, Lord tonight I need a friend. In 1990, country novelty musician Ray Stevens produced a comedic version of the song, as did Pinkard & Bowden called “Help Me Make It Through the Yard”, in which the lyrics are altered to tell about the plight of a man coming home drunk: Take the rosebush from my hair, / Lord, it has a lot of thorns, / What’s the sprinkler doing on / At this hour of the morn? …

Here Without You
The third single from the album Away from the Sun by 3 Doors Down. It peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending November 8, 2003. It has since been certified Platinum in the United States and Australia. It was featured in the film Goal! 2: Living the Dream…. WWE used the song in a tribute video for Eddie Guerrero when he died from a heart attack in November 2005. Brad Arnold states that the main inspiration for this song was his now ex-wife. The song is about being away from someone and missing them, and it’s not about how long you’ve gone, it’s about the loneliness that comes with missing someone. It’s also about a state of peace that comes with dreaming of the missed loved one. The lines “And when the last one falls, when it’s all said and done..” mean that even when the world falls apart, the love never dies.

Home
© 2005 Michael Bublé, It’s Time. Michael wrote this with his musical director Alan Chang and Amy Foster-Gillies, who is the daughter of the songwriter David Foster. Chang and Foster-Gillies told the story of this song. Chang started off: “He [Bublé] had the first few lines of the song written when he came to sound check one day. He was expressing the sentiment we’ve all felt of wanting to be home after being gone for a long period of time. When I first heard what he had to say, I felt it might be too much of a complaint, especially since it was about being stuck in Europe, where we happened to be. I thought to myself, ‘Oh great, complain about being stuck in Europe.’ But I thought basically it was a good idea, so I figured I’d just go with it and try to come up with music that would fit that theme.” Chang and Bublé were unable to complete the song that day but their paths crossed again a few months later when they were taping the television show Las Vegas. Chang recalled: “Michael was doing a guest appearance on the show and I was there with him, and there was a piano in the room where we were waiting in between takes for the show. So I sat down at the piano, and we worked on it again and my part of it came together. Then we sent it on to Amy.” Amy Foster-Gillies: “My dad introduced me to Michael before he was even signed to a record deal. He’s such a good human being and he promised me that any success that he had he would include me. I just thought to myself, ‘Yeah sure.’ But he did! The first opportunity he had to write an original song, he called me and asked me to help out. Just like Alan, when I first heard the song I thought it was about bashing Europe too. I knew it shouldn’t be like that because he goes to Europe a lot. So I really wrote the lyrics about just the difficulties of being away from home. I think it worked out really nice and balanced between sort of longing to be home but still knowing there is a gratefulness about where he is.”

I Can’t Unlove You
© 2006 Kenny Rogers, Songwriters: Kirby, Wade Allen; Robinson, Will. One of country music’s legendary icon, Kenny Rogers is also a songwriter, record producer, actor, photographer and a businessman. He has received numerous accolades which includes American Music Awards, Country Music Association awards, Academy of Country Music awards and Grammy awards. Aside from making music, he also starred in different movies. Kenny Rogers is still active in music, recently released his album Water & Bridges where the single Calling Me, a duet with Don Henley, was nominated for a Grammy. Water & Bridges, an across the board hit, that peaked at #5 in the Billboard Country Albums sales charts, also charting high in the Billboard 200. The first single from the album, I Can’t Unlove You, was also a chart hit.

If Heaven
© 2004 Andy Griggs, This I Gotta See. Songwriter, Gretchen Peters. Griggs’ eleventh single on the Billboard country singles charts, it is also the final Top 40 country hit of his career, peaking at #5 in mid-2005. Griggs said that he was emotionally moved by the song, which made him recall his father and brother, both of whom died during Griggs’ childhood. His mother has asked him to perform the song for him, and refers to it as “the song.”

In Another World
© 2001 Country music artist Joe Diffie scored his twenty-sixth Top 40 country hit, as well as his seventeenth and final Top Ten hit to date with the song penned by Tom Shapiro, Wally Wilson and Jimmy Yeary.

Just To See You Smile
© 1997 Tim McGraw, Everywhere. Just to See You Smile became McGraw’s third consecutive No. 1 single from Everywhere, spending six weeks atop the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in January and February 1998. It was also McGraw’s second single to be declared by Billboard as the Number One country single of the year. No music video was made for this song. Having spent 42 weeks on the Billboard chart, Just to See You Smile also set what was then a record for being the longest-running single on the Billboard country charts since the inception of Nielsen SoundScan in 1990. This was also the longest chart run for any country single in the 1990s. Anyone who follows country music knows he is married to country superstar Faith Hill. He is also the son of late pitcher Tug McCraw, whose personal life was similarly mythic: late in life, he learned he was the father of a young boy, who went on to become country-music star Tim McGraw.

Let Me Let Go
© 1998 Faith Hill from the album Faith. Steve Diamond talks about how he and Dennis Morgan came to write Faith Hill’s smash hit, “I love songs where the singer is deluding themselves, saying something that the listener knows isn’t true. In this song, the singer basically knows the object of the song doesn’t have the power to let them let go. It’s really up to the singer, but the singer is pretending that the power is with the former love. Fortunately, [Faith’s producer] Dann Huff got it and loved the song, he played it for Faith, and she loved it. She did such a fantastic job. We were thrilled. Interestingly, we had an idea what the song was about when we were writing it — clearly about a former relationship. But I’ve had people come up to me and tell me they related it to their battle with alcohol and drugs. That was a real interesting perspective — somebody taking lyrics how we did not intend it.” Background vocals were provided by Vince Gill.

Maria
© 2001 Blondie, taken from their 1999 album No Exit. This song was Blondie’s comeback single, their first since “War Child” in July 1982. In the UK, it was the band’s sixth no.1 single, topping the charts exactly 20 years after their first UK no.1 “Heart of Glass” in 1979. The song was written by the band’s keyboardist Jimmy Destri, who had also penned some of their earlier hits such as “Atomic”. When the song reached No. 1 in the UK in February 1999, Debbie Harry, who was then 53, became the oldest female singer to achieve that feat. The single only reached the lower rungs of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart however, stalling at #82. The line “…like a millionaire/walking on imported air” was used in a previous Blondie song, “Walk Like Me” (also written by Destri), from the album Autoamerican (1980). Stylistically it’s also very reminiscent to this song. The song is rumored to be at least partially written about Regina Russell, who was involved with Blondie drummer Clem Burke at the time.

Missing You
© 1984 John Waite, No Brakes. John Waite, Mark Leonard, Chas Sandford, songwriters. John Charles Waite was born on July 4, 1952, in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. He was first known as lead singer and bass player of The Babys. Shortly after the release of the Babys’ fifth album in October 1980, the group broke up. Waite launched his solo career with his 1982 album titled Ignition, which produced the hit single “Change.” His next album, No Brakes, made him an international star. This album included the smash hit “Missing You,” which went to No.1 on the American charts. He has also served as the lead singer for Bad English, which featured Journey members Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain, along with future Journey member Deen Castronovo. It was also recorded by country music duo Brooks & Dunn in 1999 on their Arista-released Tight Rope album; their version peaked at #15 on the country chart, and is the version we cover. In 2006, there was a remake of Missing You as a duet with Alison Krauss, released as single in the Country Charts in the United States. Waite and Krauss appeared on the Tonight Show on February 5, 2007 to perform Missing You. Waite appears as himself and performs two songs in the 2010 feature film, New Day, from L’Oiseau Blanc Films. 

Mr. Brightside
© 2004 Killers, Hot Fuss. Guitarist Dave Keuning wrote this about lead singer Brandon Flowers’ ex-girlfriend who cheated on him. Flowers recalled to Q magazine how he discovered her with another man at the Crown and Anchor pub in his hometown of Las Vegas: “I was asleep and I knew something was wrong. I have these instincts. I went to the Crown and Anchor and my girlfriend was there with another guy.” Flowers added that the song was “born” at the Crown and Anchor.

My Heart is Lost to You
© 2005 Brooks & Dunn from the album Steers & Stripes. Songwriters: Brett Beavers, Connie Harrington

Nothin’ But The Wheel
© 1993 Patty Loveless, Only What I Feel. Songwriters: Sherrill, John Scott. The sixth album for country music artist Patty Loveless, and the first since signing with Epic Records in 1992. It was released in 1993. Four tracks from the album made in into the Billboard top 20 country singles charts, including the #1 Blame It on Your Heart and the #3 How Can I Help You Say Goodbye, later covered by Laura Branigan. You Will was originally recorded by Anne Murray as the title track of her 1990 album. The album peaked at #9, and was certified platinum. This album was Loveless’ first album since she had surgery to repair burst nodes on her vocal cords in 1992.

Please Remember Me
© 1999 Tim McGraw A Place in the Sun. This was originally recorded by Rodney Crowell, who wrote the song with Will Jennings. Crowell and Jennings are both songwriters from East Texas, and wrote several other songs together, including Many A Long and Lonesome Highway and What Kind Of Love. Crowell wrote a series of Country hits, many for Roseanne Cash, who he was married to from 1979-1991. Jennings had tremendous success writing songs for movies and collaborating with Steve Winwood, B.B. King, Jimmy Buffett and many others. Jennings says: “This song began in the summer of 1994 in the garage of my house in Westlake Village, California, when my engineer and I were testing a portable recording studio. My engineer had me playing the keyboard, recording different sounds to different tracks, and out of nowhere I started playing the chorus hook and the title, which came just after the music. After everything had been tested, I had the chorus hook and other parts of the verse melody recorded and saved. We went on to Carmel and Rodney called me weeks later asking for something to work on for his album. I pulled the bits and pieces together, with the chorus title and tune, and sent it all to him. We worked on the phone between Carmel and Nashville and developed the rest of the song. Rodney made a great recording which was overlooked by the public and a year or two later George Massenburg, who loved the song, played it for Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville and made a great record. Years went by and Tim McGraw picked up the song and made a fine record that closely followed Rodney’s production and Tim’s version was a country and, almost, pop hit. Rodney and I poured out our feelings about ending relationships, realizing the damage done, and wishing departed lovers a better life than they had with us.”

Push
© 1997 Matchbox Twenty from the album Yourself or Someone Like You. It was their breakthrough single. After landing “Long Day” on several radio stations paving the way, “Push” hit the top of the Modern Rock Tracks. The song, while seeming to be about physical abuse, has been stated by Rob Thomas to be about emotional abuse. When the song came out initially, some feminist groups were outraged and claimed the song was about abusing women, until Thomas explained that the man in the song (either himself or fictional) was the one being abused, either emotionally or physically, by a woman.

Raining on Sunday
© 2003 Keith Urban, Golden Road. Co-written by country music artist Radney Foster and Darrell Brown. It was initially recorded on Foster’s 1998 Arista Records album See What You Want to See. Keith Urban covered the song in 2002 for his album Golden Road. Urban’s recording, released in 2003, was the second single from this album and the version we cover. It peaked at #3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks and #38 on U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Red Dirt Road
Fans of Brooks & Dunn loved this 2003 #1 hit from the album of the same name. Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn co-wrote and produced the song and record along with Mark Wright.

Saving Grace
The lead track from Tom Petty’s 2006 album Highway Companion.

Secret of Life
© 1998 Faith Hill, Faith. This was written by singer/songwriter Gretchen Peters. “I usually introduce this song, ‘What if the Dalai Lama were a bartender?’” says Peters. “It started as a little bit of nothing, really. I had a little bit of success with songs like Let That Pony Run, and Independence Day, a lot of what people in Nashville call ‘Women’s Songs,’ which is a term that just makes my skin crawl. But songs from the point of view of women, whatever. I bristled a little bit at that, and I thought, I’ve spent like 10 years playing bars, hanging around guys. I know a thing or two about men. So that’s how that song started. I just started with this sort of riffing on this ‘Couple of guys sitting around drinking’ kind of line. And it marched into sort of barroom philosophy at that point. I think my favorite line in that song is ‘The secret of life, try not to hurry, but don’t wait.’ And once I sort of had my sights on that, I knew what I wanted to do, and it was just not that hard to write. It was just all about mostly listing things that to me really are the secret of life. The overall sentiment in the song is: it’s moments. It’s just moments, that’s all it is. It’s not one big thing, it’s not a self-help book, it’s not in a self-help book, it’s just moments, and they come and they go, and the trick is knowing you’re happy when you’re happy, and being in the moment. It’s very Zen, really, the whole message in that song.”

She Ain’t the Girl For You
© 2000 The Kinleys, II. Debbie Zavitson, Heather Kinley, Jennifer Kinley, songwriters. Country music duo composed of identical twin sisters Heather and Jennifer Kinley, born November 5, 1970 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Between 1997 and 2000, they recorded two albums for the Epic Records label (1997’s Just Between You and Me and 2001’s II), also charting eight singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in that timespan. A third album, All in the Family, was issued in 2004 on the independent Identical label. Having started out on Al Alberts’ Showcase, a televised talent show from the Philadelphia area, the twins moved to Nashville at the age of 19. After five years of training and practicing, they caught the attention of talent scouts and were signed with Epic Records. Their debut album Just Between You and Me was issued in late 1997, producing a #7 hit on the Billboard country singles charts in its lead-off single Please. This song was followed by the album’s title track at #12, although the next two singles both fell short of Top 40. Just Between You and Me was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. The duo did not release another single until She Ain’t the Girl for You, the first single from their second album, II.

Something Worth Leaving Behind
© 2002 album of the same name from Lee Ann Womack. It peaked on the Billboard 200 at #16 and the Top Country Albums at #2. Two singles were released from the album; the title-track (a Top 20 hit) and Forever Everyday. This was also the first album of Womack’s career not to produce a Top Ten country hit.

Stay With Me
© 2004 Josh Gracin, a former member of the United States Marine Corps, first gained public attention as the fourth-place finalist on the second season of the Fox Networks talent competition American Idol. After his elimination from the show, Gracin completed his service, received his honorable discharge, signed a record deal with Lyric Street Records and released his self-titled debut album in 2004. It produced a Number One hit and two more Top Five hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. Josh wrote the song for his wife.

Stuck in The Middle With You
Composed by Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty. The song was written and recorded in 1975 by Stealers Wheel. Many think the song was sung by Bob Dylan, but the lead vocals were performed by Gerry Rafferty.

Superman (It’s Not Easy)
© 2000 Five for Fighting (stage name of American singer-songwriter John Ondrasik) from his second album America Town. The song comes from the superhero Superman’s point of view, although his name is never mentioned lyrically. He is portrayed as misunderstood and not as powerful as people see him, relating to ordinary people’s struggles to fit in, live up to expectations and fulfill their responsibilities. At the end of the song’s music video, John Ondrasik lies in bed with his own wife and son. The song again became popular after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York, entering the Hot 100 charts at #38 on October 27 and peaking at #14.

The One
2001 single for country artist Gary Allan from his album Alright Guy. The song reach number 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. The song also entered the Top 40 on the Billboard hot 100, marking his first entry into the Top 40 chart.

To Love Somebody
Orginally written for Otis Redding, the Bee Gees had a huge Billboard #17 hit with this one back in 1967.

Tonight I Wanna Cry
© 2005 Keith Urban. It was the last official single off Be Here. The song was later sung by Ace Young on American Idol on April 4, 2006, which was designated a country music theme. Chad Doucette sang it on Canadian Idol. It was also covered by Chris Richardson on American Idol on March 6, 2007. Urban’s version was also featured in the January 31, 2007 Medium episode, Very Merry Maggie. Kelly Clarkson covered the song on the Australian Leg of her All I Ever Wanted Tour. Tonight I Wanna Cry was the last song to play on KZLA in Los Angeles when the station switched formats from country to dance.

What I Need
© 1999 Julie Reeves from the album It’s About Time, Marv Green, songwriter. Reeves grew up in Ashland, Kentucky and made her way to country music mecca Nashville in 1994. Originally a singer on demo tapes, Nashville resident Julie Reeves was discovered when her voice began attracting more attention than the songs themselves. Taken under the wings of producer Ric Wake and songwriter Denise Rich, Reeves signed to Virgin Records Nashville; her debut and only album It’s About Time came out in 1999. It received critical acclaim. She married country music parodist Cledus T. Judd and gave birth to a daughter Caitlyn Rose in 2004. Reeves gained new attention in 2007 when American Idol contestant Melinda Doolittle successfully performed “Trouble is a Woman,” after guest mentor Martina McBride professed to having never heard the song.

White Flag
© 2004 Dido, Life for Rent. White Flag is a song by English singer-songwriter Dido, released as the lead single from her second album Life for Rent on September 2003 and is the biggest hit of Dido’s career. It is considered one of her signature songs, and helped Life for Rent sell over ten million copies worldwide. The song was nominated for the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 46th Grammy Awards, but lost to Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful. It won the Best British Single at the 2004 Brit Awards. The music video, directed by Joseph Kahn features actor David Boreanaz as Dido’s love interest. The song ranked on Blender’s list “The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born” at number 317. The single fared very well on the charts around the world, peaking at number one in Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, and Norway; number two in the UK and Ireland, and number eighteen in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Wild Angels
© 1995 Martina McBride, Wild Angels. Songwriters, Matraca Berg, Gary Harrison, Harry Stinson. The album produced the singles Safe in the Arms of Love, Wild Angels, Swingin’ Doors, Phones Are Ringin’ All Over Town, and Cry on the Shoulder of the Road. Wild Angels was McBride’s first Number One on the Hot Country Songs charts.

Without You
© 2000 Dixie Chicks, Fly, written by Eric Silver and lead singer Natalie Maines. It was released as the album’s fifth single in August 2000 and in January 2001, hit No. 1 on the U.S. country singles chart. It also reached #31 on the U.S. pop singles chart. A ballad that directly speaks of lost love. The music video for Without You was one of the Chicks’ more startling. Directed by Thom Oliphant and Maines’ husband Adrian Pasdar, almost every shot was of a nude person against a completely white background, be it the three Chicks (from the shoulders up), a muscular African-American male, a very pregnant woman, another woman, or a baby. Vulnerability was the general tone. The Chicks looked much more serious, with Maines having longer hair and Robison having made her move to dark hair. The video ends on a very sad note, with a white-on-black inscription reading “Dedicated to the memory of Jackson Miles Ezell Oct. 7 - Oct. 11, 2000”. The actress playing the pregnant woman in the video had given birth shortly after it was made, but her son only lived four days. The Chicks were very upset and offered to re-shoot a new video, but the mother wanted this one released, and so the Chicks added the postscript in remembrance.

You’ll Think of Me
2004 number one hit by Australian country music artist Keith Urban. You’ll Think Of Me was written by hit songwriters Darrell Brown, Ty Lacy and Dennis Matkosky. It is the fourth single from his album Golden Road. In the United States, the single proved quite successful, peaking at #1 with a 2 week stay on the Hot Country Songs chart in Billboard magazine, as well as #24 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also peaked at #2 on the Adult Contemporary charts.

You’re Beautiful
© 2005 James Blount, Back to Bedlam. The Daily Record March 22, 2008 asked Blunt if he was bored with this monster hit. The singer-songwriter replied: “If I had the radio on all the time and they kept playing that song then yes, I’d probably turn it off. But do I still like the song? Absolutely. It’s a really personal song about a moment which meant a great deal to me. And I’m sure plenty of guys have seen their ex-girlfriend with a new man at some stage. It bites into you and I captured that in a really honest song. I love that song for capturing that moment. I’m saddened by what it reminds me of, and I appreciate what it did which is advertise an album I’d made.”

You’re Gone
1998 Diamond Rio, Unbelievable. Paul Williams wrote this with Nashville songwriter Jon Vezner, whose credits include Where You’ve Been for Kathy Mattea and If I Didn’t Love You by Steve Warriner. Williams is a singer, songwriter and actor who recovered from drug and alcohol dependency in 1990 and has worked to bring awareness to the problem and help others. Williams says of this song: “It poured out of us at the same time. There’s a subject matter in that song that is specific to my life. There was a young lady that said, ‘I’m not going to be with you, because you’re an alcoholic and addict. I don’t want to watch you die.’ And she wound up leaving, but I wound up getting sober. And that’s really the content of that song. You’re Gone, is related specifically to one of my own life events: ‘The good news is I’m better for the time we spent together. The bad news is you’re gone.’ Reportedly, there is also a version by Garth Brooks that  hasn’t released it yet. It’s tucked away in a vault.

You Were Meant For Me
© 1996 Written by Jewel and Steve Poltz and performed by Jewel on her first album, Pieces of You. It was the second single from that album and went on to receive a great deal of recognition. It became a hit and reached #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Foolish Games/You Were Meant For Me ranked at #15 on Billboard’s All Time Top 100. Plans to release the original version were cancelled in order for Jewel to record a more radio-friendly version. Jewel went back in the studio to record Juan Patino Mix (better known as the The Sean Penn Radio Edit). A verse was taken from the original lyrical liner. A music video was made for this song, directed by Penn. Although Jewel felt the recording was more radio-friendly than the original, plans to release this version were soon canceled. The Juan Patino Mix was never released commercially but on the promotional EP Phyllis Barnabee Finally Gets A Bra in 1996. Soon afterward, Jewel once again went back into the studio to record the version that would become famous now. A music video was also produced and would be the version released.

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