On This Day in 1998, Tim McGraw Was at No. 1 With a Record-Setting Single

On this day (January 22) in 1998, Tim McGraw was at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart with “Just To See You Smile”. The song spent six consecutive weeks at the top of the tally. It also spent 42 weeks on the chart, setting a new record for the longest-running single on the Hot Country Songs chart. It was also the longest-running country single of the 1990s.

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McGraw proved that he could tug listeners’ heartstrings early in his career with “Don’t Take The Girl”. While “Just To See You Smile” isn’t a tear-jerking heartbreaker like his 1994 hit, it still showcases McGraw’s ability to hit his audience directly in the heart.

[RELATED: It’s Hard Not To Cry While Listening to These 4 Tim McGraw Songs]

The song tells the story of a man who will do anything to make the woman he loves happy. Early in the song, he recalls quitting his job so he could follow her from Texas to Tennessee. Later, he allows her to have time and space, hoping they’d someday be together again. By the end of the song, though, she has moved on with someone else. He’s still committed to doing everything in his power to make her happy, though. So, when she introduces the narrator to her new man, he lies and says he’s happy for them. It’s a sweet sentiment, but you can’t help but feel for the guy.

This Tim McGraw Hit Was Written on a Whim

Songwriters Mark Nesler and Tony Martin didn’t sit down to write a song for Tim McGraw when they penned “Just To See You Smile”. In fact, they didn’t plan on writing a new song at all. Instead, they were planning to put finishing touches on something they’d been working on. However, inspiration struck, and they wrote a major hit song.

“We were getting together to finish a song because we were going to demo it,” Martin recalled. “I walked into the room, and Mark was sitting there singing the chorus. He said, ‘Is that too sing-songy?’ And I said, ‘About a million dollars’ worth.’ So, we forgot all about the other song.”

They wrote the first and last verses within minutes. However, after they played what they had written, they knew they needed to flesh it out. “We worked and worked and worked, and it was getting darker and darker and darker in the room. Pretty soon, Mark’s publisher, Jerry Crutchfield, comes into the room, cracks the door a little bit, and light shines in on us. We looked like molerats or something. We were like, ‘Don’t turn the light on! Don’t break the spell. We’re working on something,’” he said.

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