In 1984, Vince Gill released his first single, “Victim Of Life’s Circumstances”. The song, on his debut Turn Me Loose EP, failed to chart. But by his fourth “True Love” single, Gill reached the Top 40.
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In 1985, Gill had his first Top 10 hit, with “If It Weren’t For Him”, a song he sings with Rosanne Cash. “If It Weren’t For Him” also kicked off a string of hits at radio for Gill, one that would last for decades. Still, these songs tend to get overlooked, since he didn’t have a No. 1 hit until 1992, with “I Still Believe In You”.
“Nothing gave me any kind of vision of what people really liked,” Gill recalls to the Los Angeles Times. “Creatively, I wanted to make records the way I like them, the way I hear them. It was just nobody wanted to hear it for a while.”
These four Vince Gill songs might be from the 1980s, but they still sound just as good today.
“Cinderella”
Gill includes “Cinderella” on his sophomore The Way Back Home album. Written by Reed Nielsen, the unique song is about a man trying to convince his friend to treat his friend’s girlfriend better, or the man will try to take her for himself.
“Cinderella” says, “A teardrop trembled / On her face / Where that smile always was / It seemed out of place / And when I held her / Like a friend / I could feel a sweet beginning / But taste a bitter end.”
“Cinderella” is Gill’s first song to crack the Top 5.
“Never Alone”
Gill and Cash wrote “Never Alone“. The song is the debut single from Gill’s third album, When I Call Your Name. But before Gill released it, Cash included it on her 1985 Rhythm & Romance album.
“Never Alone” begins with, “You were like a lost kid looking for home / You found what you wanted right in my arms / If you walk out on me / Just leave your memory / Just take my sympathy and go / I love you so you’re never alone.”
“True Love”
“True Love” is the first single from The Things That Matter, Gill’s first full-length album. Gill wrote “True Love” by himself, and although it failed to reach the Top 30, it’s still a classic Gill song.
“True Love” says, “I hear your voice in every sound / You’re never there when I turn around, I need true love / I can’t quit and I won’t give in / Until you’re back in my arms again, we need true love / True love is all I’m after / I long to hear your laughter / The only thing that matters / Is it’s true love.”
“Oklahoma Borderline”
“Oklahoma Borderline” is also on The Things That Matter. Written by Gill along with Rodney Crowell and Guy Clark, the song is one of Gill’s biggest hits of the 1980s.
The song, about a man who happily returns to Oklahoma after being broken up with, says, “I need one good ride, I’ll be satisfied / Come on, Oklahoma borderline / If we roll all night, she’ll be comin’ into sight / Come on, Oklahoma borderline.”
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