The one that got away… and it’s a GOOD one.
The one and only Tim McGraw made an appearance on Tracy Lawrence’s TL’s Road House podcast, where they talked about coming up together in Nashville in the ’90s and all of the good memories they have together.
But one of the most interesting questions came from a fan, who asked if there was a certain song that he passed on that he regretted later on because it became a hit, and at first, he said there hadn’t been one that really stuck out that he had completely passed on. But then he remembered a little tune called “Carrying Your Love with Me,” which of course became a hit for the King, George Strait.
McGraw recalled a songwriter friend pitching it to him, which he’d unknowingly done at the same time one of the other writers had given it to Strait. They both put it on hold, because both could obviously tell it was a hit, and once it got back to Tim that Strait wanted it to, he bowed out quickly.
To use his words, he wasn’t going to get “in a pissing match with George Strait,” and I don’t think a single person on earth could blame him for that:
“The only song is ‘Carrying You Love With Me,’ a George Strait song. It just so happened that one of the songwriters pitched it to him, and one of the songwriters pitched it to me at the same time. And so I put it on hold, and he put it on hold.
And then it got back to me that George had it on hold, and I’m like, well I’m not getting in a pissing match with George Strait. It’s George Strait’s song. So that’s one of the one of the ones I hate I missed out on, because that’s one of my favorite George Strait songs.”
“Carrying You Love With Me” was written by Steve Bogard and Jeff Stevens, and it peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in 1997.
Of course, George Strait used it as the title track to his 17th studio album Carrying Your Love with Me, which peaked at the top of the all-genre U.S. Billboard 200 Album chart upon release in 1997 as well. The project produced four singles on the Billboard country charts, including the iconic album title track, “One Night at a Time,” “Round About Way” and “Today My World Slipped Away.” The first three went #1, while “Today My World Slipped Away,” which is a cover of a Vern Gosdin song, peaked at #3.
Carrying Your Love with Me has since been certified 3X Platinum by the RIAA, which means it has moved over three million copies over the last 27 years. Additionally, in 1998, it was nominated for Best Country Album at the Grammy Awards, though that award ultimately went to Johnny Cash for Unchained.
It was obviously made for George Strait, which clearly I think McGraw would agree with, but dang if it must sting a little to know he had to relinquish a classic like that. I do agree he made the right call, and I’m sure he would’ve done a great job with it had he been able to cut it, but still… imagine “Carrying Your Love with Me” being your one song that away.
You can watch him talk about it here:
Turn it up…
“Carrying You Love With Me”
