Songoftheday 7/29/21 - I ain't gonna lie to you and say it didn't hurt, to see you with someone new and you were wearing my old blue shirt...

 

 

"Someone You Used To Know" - Collin Raye

from the album The Walls Came Down (1998)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #37 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 3

 

Today's song of the day comes from country music singer Collin Raye, who grew up in Arkansas as Collin Wray, the son of a singer, before starting a band of his own, the Wrays, under the alias of "Bubba Wray". Through the 1980's the group had four minor country radio hits, the biggest of which, "You Lay A Lotta Love On Me", stopped at #48 in 1987.  Changing his surname spelling and going solo, Collin signed with Epic Records, where he released his debut album All I Can Be in 1991. The first single, "All I Can Be (Is A Sweet Memory)", a ringer for a Vince Gill record, was a minor country radio hit at #29. It was the follow-up, "Love, Me", that would bring Raye his first big breakthrough, spending three weeks at #1 on Billboard's country songs chart. The album went to #54 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #7 on the Country Albums list, and went on to sell over a million copies.

Raye returned in 1992 with In This Life, which scored four top ten country hits, including his second #1,  "In This Life". The ballad crossed over to the "easy listening" pop radio market, reaching #21 on Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary format chart. That was followed in 1994 with Extremes, which did one better with five top ten country singles, including a third #1 with the line dance friendly "My Kind Of Girl". The next year, Collin's fourth set I Think About You made the Billboard 200 top-40 at #40 and sent six songs into the country radio top-40. None made the top spot, but two hit #2, with lead single "One Boy, One Girl" landing Raye's first placing on the Billboard Hot 100 pop list at #87. After four million-selling studio releases, and a Christmas set, Raye's Best Of Collin Raye: Direct Hits collection became his fifth, and his highest-ranking album at #33 on the Billboard 200 and #4 on the Country Albums list. Later in 1997, Raye appeared on soft-pop artist Jim Brickman's The Gift album, singing "The Gift" with Susan Ashton. That song spent a full month (four weeks) at #3 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.

Raye started the next chapter of his career with The Walls Came Down, which was released in the summer of 1998. The first single from the set, "I Can Still Feel You", topped the country radio chart for two weeks, his final time so far at the summit. The second offering, though, had the advantage of being released as a "cassingle", as well as Billboard changing their rules to allow album cuts to chart on the Hot 100. "Someone You Used To Know", written by Rory Feek and Tim Johnson, the former eventually part of the duo Joey + Rory, was another soft ballad in Raye's high tenor wheelhouse. A midtempo song about seeing a former lover that tries to be confrontational but ends up being more hurt than angry. Produced by Raye with Paul Worley and Billy Joe Walker Jr., the single was a welcome respite to his usual overly-sweet love songs...

"Someone You Used To Know" became Raye's first top-40 pop hit in December of 1998. The song spent a week at #3 on Billboard's Country Songs chart. The Walls Came Down album, released in August of 1998, clocked in at #55 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #8 on the Country Albums list. Raye will be back to this series. 

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Here's Raye in concert from his live album in 2004...

Lastly, here's songwriter Joey Feek singing "Someone You Used To Know" with a ton more emotion in the delivery...

Up tomorrow: Iconic country duo sing about marriages.