Country music superstar, Tim McGraw is one of the most successful country musicians of all-time. Over the span of his nearly 25 year career, the Delhi, Louisiana native has earned two Grammy awards, 11 Country Music Association awards (CMA), and eight Billboard awards. However, even with all of his current success, McGraw’s self titled album was not a huge commercial hit. His 1993 debut, did not spawn any chart worthy singles and is McGraw’s only album not to receive some level of sales certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Fortunately for McGraw, who said in a recent interview, “I look at every album as a progression from the last album. That I think every time I finish a record, I feel like that that’s the best record I’ve done since the last record I’ve done, until I start the new one,” his work has certainly displayed the kind of progression that he aims for. His sophomore album, Not a Moment Too Soon, became the best-selling country album of 1994 and earned McGraw his first number one hit.
Now, 11 albums later, McGraw has enjoyed a career full of platinum albums and successful singles. His most recent album, Sundown Heaven Town, was released in September 2014 and debut at number one on Billboard’s Country Album Chart. The album sold more than 70,000 copies during its first week and has sold more than 100,000 to date. The project has received positive reviews from critics, and in an interview with Country Weekly, McGraw expressed his own opinion about his latest body of work stating: “I think it’s a good microcosm of what my 20 or so years in music have been, in a lot of ways. You can certainly hear parts of my career throughout all of these songs, as well as the future and where my music is headed. To me, the title of the album is all about that time where you stop doing what you have to do, and start doing what you want to do.”
However, with 13 albums and a career that has lasted longer than some of his fans are old, Tim McGraw’s catalog has become overwhelmingly large. Although he has released 62 singles over the course of his career, his albums contain more than double that number and unfortunately many of those have gotten lost in the mix. While record labels have come up with a success measuring formula to decide which songs will be the most popular, there have been many album tracks that have become fan favorites. Here are five Tim McGraw songs that should have been singles.
5. “What She Left Behind”
Although Tim McGraw has been happily married to fellow country musician, Faith Hill for nearly 20 years, many of his songs reflect the sadness that often accompanies the end of a relationship. As its title suggests, the song “What She Left Behind” tells the sad story of a man forced to cope with all the things that were left behind after the lady in his life is gone. With the opening lyrics: “She took the TV and the toaster/She took the curtains and the car/I guess she took for granted/I wouldn’t take it very hard/And for someone in a hurry/She took her own sweet time/But it’s not what she took that hurt/It’s what she left behind,” it’s almost hard to believe that such a beautiful song could have possibly gotten left behind.
4. “The Trouble with Never”
Although most of us are taught the age-old mantra, “never say never,” chances are we will continue to use the word ‘never’ on an almost daily basis. With this track off of his 1999 album, A Place in the Sun, McGraw gives listeners dozens of other reasons why never is problematic. As he sings, “If I never think about her, I’ll never miss her at all/Never wonder what she’s doin, never give her a call/Never see her again and I’ll be free as a bird/But the trouble with never is never never works,” McGraw makes it clear that never-never results in a good outcome.
3. “Halo”
Tim McGraw’s “Halo” (not to be confused with Beyonce’s song of the same name) was released on his 11th and final album with Curb Records. In the song’s chorus: “Baby, I’ll let go when you say so/Try to let your heart fly free/I’ll crawl out of my cradle/Down in to my black hole/And you just lay low/Under your halo” McGraw makes a heartfelt plea to a woman who he loves deeply. However, as the song continues, it becomes evident that the object of McGraw’s affection has no desire to save what little relationship they have left.
2. “Friend Of A Friend”
Released on his album, Two Lanes of Freedom, Tim McGraw’s “Friend Of A Friend” is an extremely relatable song about someone who is still in love long after the relationship has ended. As McGraw enters the song’s third verse, he sings, “don’t you believe , anything you hear/When someone tells you, I still ask about you/After all these years/No matter what they say, it’s just not true/I don’t spend all my day and all my nights/Just missin’ you,” it is clear that while he is still mourning the loss of a pass love, he is also in deniable about it.
1. “Last Turn Home”
Off of his latest album, Sundown Heaven Town, McGraw’s “Last Turn Home” has the classic country sound that McGraw fans love. The song’s chorus: “Thank God we don’t have to be alone/Closer I get, the more that my heart knows/You’re like that last turn home/That last turn home,” is a sweet ode to a love that reminds McGraw of the comfort of going home.
(Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
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