Kenny Rogers Was Supposed To Record This Song, Which Became a Big Hit for Reba McEntire Instead

In 1993, Reba McEntire released “The Heart Won’t Lie”, a duet with Vince Gill. Her first big duet, the song is written by Kim Carnes and Donna Weiss. Although “The Heart Won’t Lie” seems tailor-made for McEntire and Gill, Carnes actually wrote “The Heart Won’t Lie” for another country artist, namely Kenny Rogers.

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“The Heart Won’t Lie” was supposed to be the follow-up to Rogers’ “Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer”, his 1980 duet with Carnes.

“I usually don’t do that,” Carnes says, speaking of writing for a specific idea. “I usually sit down and write from inspiration. But once I decided to do that, it did become inspiration. I wrote the chorus and called Donna Weiss up and said, ‘This is perfect for the two of us.’ [Producer] Jimmy Bowen paid us the best compliment. He said that when he hears a song we wrote together, it’s like one person wrote it. So Donna and I wrote it, made a demo of it and sent it to Kenny. He loved it and said, ‘Let’s do it as a duet on my next album.’”

Why Kenny Rogers Never Recorded “The Heart Won’t Lie”

Unfortunately for Carnes, in 1989, Rogers released his Something Inside So Strong record. The project includes duets with Gladys Knight, Anne Murray, Holly Dunn, and Ronald Isley. Because of that, Rogers decided to wait. Later, he and McEntire did try to record a version, but it never sounded right.

With the song still available, McEntire switched gears and reached out to her good friend and fellow Oklahoma native, Vince Gill. Later, McEntire revealed she regretted how she handled the situation.

“I didn’t tell Kenny, which was my mistake, totally, McEntire concedes. “Kenny approached me at the CMA Awards. He said, ‘Why did you do that?’ I said, ‘Kenny, I am so sorry. We were just going so fast. It’s a great, wonderful song. I never even considered coming back and talking to you about that.’ And that’s one of the things I totally regret. I hugged his neck, and I told him I was terribly sorry. But I did not do that maliciously.”

A two-week No. 1 single, the success of the song is likely due in part to the storyline woven into the video, one McEntire admits Gill wasn’t a fan of doing.

“He doesn’t really care for videos, and this one turned into a four-day shoot,” McEntire acknowledges. “It was great to spend time with Vince and get to watch him do what he called his Gomer Pyle imitation for his character. But I had to promise him that if he ever does another song with me, he will never have to suffer through a four-day video shoot again!”

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