Songoftheday 9/4/21 - She sparkles she dazzles she lights up the room, we walk together to a table for two...

 

 

"Meanwhile" - George Strait

from the album Always Never The Same (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #38 (four weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 5

 

Today's song comes from music legend George Strait, who had made his debut on the country radio chart back in 1981 with his top-ten single "Unwound". Through the decade Strait became one of the biggest stars of the genre, racking up 26 charting singles with eighteen of those going all the way to the top. George didn't slow down in the 90's with 41 more charting hits through 1998 with sixteen rising to #1. Three songs, "Love Without End, Amen", "I've Come To Expect It From You", and "One Night At A Time" all spent five weeks at the top. (You can check out a more comprehensive rundown of these decades on his "robbed hit" entry from last month by clicking here.) However, since the official "pop" chart from Billboard magazine, the Hot 100, relied on radio airplay and singles sales, Strait only appeared on the list a few times in that period, with "One Night At A Time" making it to #59 in 1997. The following year, when the music industry trade bible changed their rules to allow all radio airplay to contribute to the Hot 100 and album cuts worthy of inclusion, George just missed the top-40 with "We Really Shouldn't Be Doing This", the third single from his One Step At A Time album. In the spring of 1999, Strait returned with his nineteenth studio album Always Never The Same. The lead single, "Meanwhile", was a richly orchestrated ballad done in 3/4 waltz time. Written by J. Fred Knobloch and Wayland Holyfield, the song starts out as a sincere love song, as Strait sings about being with his woman who goes out with him, where she commands attention but only shows it towards him, and returns for a heated night back home. But then the chorus kicks in with the titular "Meanwhile", and the reality that this is either all his imagination or that he is obsessed with thinking about a past lover (which, honestly, is even more creepy). Strait's cheerful delivery compounds to the mystery of this, while the strings in the back of the steel guitars suggest such a romantic swell that leaves me pretty confused...

"Meanwhile" became George's first official "top-40" hit on the pop Hot 100 in February of 1999. The song also climbed to #4 on Billboard's Country Singles chart. Internationally, the single made it all the way to #1 on the Canadian Country chart. The Always Never The Same album, released in March of 1999, peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #2 on the Country Albums chart, going on to sell over a million copies. Both George and this album will be back to the series.

(6/10)

Up tomorrow: A new kid strikes out solo but remains constant.