On This Day in 1996, the King of Country Music Got “Carried Away” on His Way to a 30th No. 1 Hit

George Strait needs no introduction. Since scoring his first-ever number-one hit with 1982’s “Fool Hearted Memory”, the undisputed “King of Country Music” has sent more songs to the top of the charts than any other artist. On this day (June 3) in 1996, he released “Carried Away”, which would become his 30th career number-one and one of two George Strait songs to garner a Single of the Year nod at the Country Music Association Awards.

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Penned by Steve Bogard and Jeff Stevens, “Carried Away” is a simple yet captivating encapsulation of deep romantic love: I get carried away by the look by the light in your eyes / Before I even realize the ride I’m on, baby I’m long gone.

George Strait released the iconic love ballad as the second single from his 16th studio album, Blue Clear Sky. Like its predecessor, “Carried Away” climbed Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart.

Additionally, “Carried Away” is the only one of Strait’s songs apart from 1997’s “One Night at a Time” to land among the Single of the Year nominees at the next year’s CMA Awards. However, it lost to “Strawberry Wine” by Deana Carter.

“Carried Away” also scored nominations for Single Record and Song of the Year at the 1997 Academy of Country Music Awards, although it did not win either.

Certified three-times Platinum by the RIAA, Blue Clear Sky topped the country albums chart and reached number seven on the all-genre U.S. Billboard 200.

This George Strait Album Produced Two No. 1 Singles—Including One Inspired By This Academy Award Winner

“Carried Away” followed “Blue Clear Sky”, the album’s title track and lead single.

Released in March 1996, “Blue Clear Sky” also reached the top of the country singles chart.

The song was written by John Jarrard, Mark D. Sanders, and Bob DiPiero, who dreamed up the song while sitting in a movie theater watching Forrest Gump.

“He was talking about his girlfriend, Jenny, and how she would come and go out of his life,” DiPiero later recounted. “At one point, he says, ‘And out of the blue clear sky, Jenny came back.’ And I was listening, thinking, ‘Hey! It’s ‘clear blue sky,’ it’s not ‘blue clear sky!’ Just that little turn of phrase stuck in my head.”

He brought the idea to Jarrard and Sanders, who had similar reactions to his own. “They said, ‘Well, that’s backwards!’” recalled DiPiero with a laugh. “I said, ‘I know that’… and we wrote it anyway!”

As he prepared to cut the song, George Strait had a question. “I’m from Texas … and Texas is clear blue sky,” DiPiero recalled the country singer saying on the phone.

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“I told him the song is all about just giving up on love, and then out of nowhere, out of the blue clear sky, comes the love of your life. And George was kind of quiet for a while, and then he says, ‘Well, you think there’s many Gumpsters out there?’” he said. “And I said, ‘Well, yeah, I do!’ And he says, ‘Well, all right then, we’ll be Gumpsters!’”

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