No one can tell a story in song quite like Trisha Yearwood. Yearwood’s eponymous album came out in 1991. In the years since then, Yearwood’s reign as one of country music’s best storytellers continues. These three Trisha Yearwood songs tell an unforgettable story.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Walkaway Joe”
Don Henley joins Yearwood in singing “Walkaway Joe”. Written by Vince Melamed and Greg Barnhill, Yearwood includes “Walkaway Joe” on her 1992 sophomore Hearts in Armor album.
“Walkaway Joe” tells the tragic tale of a young woman in love with a boy whom her mother warns her is trouble. The song says, “Mama told her baby, ‘Girl, take it real slow’ / Girl told her mama, ‘Hey, I really gotta go / He’s waitin’ in the car’ / Mama said, ‘Girl, you won’t get far.‘”
Sadly, the mother’s instincts prove correct, with the girl winding up alone in a “roadside motel” after he leaves her. The song was a gamble for the writers and for Yearwood.
“In those days, you weren’t even supposed to write about drinking, and certainly not about a 17-year-old girl that runs away with a guy and robs a gas station,” Melamed tells The Tennessean.
Matthew McConaughey makes his acting debut in the video.
“She’s In Love With The Boy”
Unlike “Walkaway Joe”, “She’s In Love With The Boy” is about as positive and happy as a song can be. “She’s In Love With The Boy” is Yearwood’s first single, and her first No. 1 hit.
“She’s In Love With The Boy” is about a young girl in love with a boy her father doesn’t approve of. Fortunately, the girl’s mother stands up for her. In “She’s In Love With The Boy”, Yearwood sings, “My daddy said you wasn’t worth a lick / When it came to brains, you got the short end of the stick / But he was wrong and honey, you are too / Katie looks at Tommy like I still look at you / She’s in love with the boy.”
Yearwood made history with “She’s In Love With The Boy”, written by Jon Ims. With “She’s In Love With The Boy”, Yearwood became the first female artist to have a debut single go to the top of the charts.
“‘She’s in Love With the Boy’ was the song that I just recorded because I liked it,” Yearwood says (via The Boot). “It was a story song, where no one’s good enough for daddy’s little girl. It was an experience I had, and I just thought it was a cool song.”
“The Song Remembers When”
One of Trisha Yearwood’s most heartbreaking songs is likely “The Song Remembers When“. Written by Hugh Prestwood, and out in 1993 as the title track of Yearwood’s third studio album, “The Song Remembers When” tells the story of a woman looking back on a love that is too painful to remember.
“The Song Remembers When” says, “I was standing at the counter / I was waiting for the change / When I heard that old familiar music start / It was like a lighted match / Had been tossed into my soul / It was like a dam had broken in my heart / After taking every detour / Getting lost and losing track / So that even if I wanted I could not find my way back / After driving out the memory of the way things might have been / After I’d forgotten all about us / The song remembers when.”
Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
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