Country music is built on great country songs. A lot of times, country songs are written in writing sessions, where two or more songwriters collaborate. But sometimes, songwriters are so good, they are able to write a song entirely by themselves. These four country songs were all written by one writer, and all became massive hits.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Should’ve Been A Cowboy” by Toby Keith
“Should’ve Been A Cowboy” is Toby Keith’s debut single, and also his first No. 1 hit. The song, from his self-titled freshman album, was inspired by a real-life conversation Keith heard at a bar, while on a hunting trip.
“A guy said to another guy, ‘In all honesty, you should’ve been a cowboy,’ when a girl didn’t dance with him in his hunting clothes,” Keith tells The Oklahoman. “And I thought, ‘Man, that sounds like a song idea,’ and it was all over me. I went back and we were all two hunters to a room. … I went in the bathroom, shut the door, wrote it down, put it in my bag, and went hunting the next day. Came home, revisited it, and said ‘I’m gonna record this song.’”
Throughout Keith’s career, he wrote plenty of other hits by himself as well, including “Who’s That Man”, “Who’s Your Daddy?”, “Don’t Let The Old Man In”, and more.
“Nobody In His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her” by George Strait
Dean Dillon penned a lot of songs for George Strait, mostly with other writers. But “Nobody In His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her” is one Dillon wrote by himself for Strait. The song, first released by Dillon as an artist, became a No. 1 hit for Strait in 1986.
The song, about a man who regrets a break-up, says in part, “Even my heart was smart enough to stay behind / I still carry her picture; I wish her well / With the new love I know she’s found by now / Each night finds me dreaming, each day I spend thinking / How much I wish she was still around / ‘Cause nobody in his right mind would’ve left her.”
“Our Song” by Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift is by now a pop music superstar, but she got her start in country music. Swift was just 16 years old when her eponymous debut album came out, but even then, she showed a real gift for songwriting.
Swift wrote or co-wrote all 11 songs on the project, including “Our Song”. Her third single, and first No. 1 hit, the song, like almost all of her music, was inspired by her own life.
“I was dating a guy, and we didn’t have a song,” Swift tells The Boot. “So I went ahead and wrote us one, and I played it at the talent show at the end of the year. And months later, people would come up to me, and they’re like, ‘I loved that song that you played — ‘Our Song.” And then they’d start singing lines of it back to me. And they’d only heard it once, so I thought, ‘There must be something here!’”
“Livin’ On Love” by Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson has also written plenty of his own songs, including “Livin’ On Love”. One of Jackson’s numerous No. 1 hits, the song is on his 1994 Who I Am album.
“Livin’ On Love” says in part, “Livin’ on love, buyin’ on time / Without somebody nothing ain’t worth a dime / Just like an old-fashioned story book rhyme / Livin’ on love / It sounds simple, that’s what you’re thinking / But love can walk through fire without blinking / It doesn’t take much when you get enough / Livin’ on love.”
As country songs go, this one is a classic.
Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
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