Robbed Hit of the week 1/17/22 - Steve Wariner's "I'm Already Taken"...

 

 

"I'm Already Taken" - Steve Wariner

from the album Two Teardrops (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #42 (two weeks)

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from singer, songwriter, and guitarist Steve Wariner, who after racking up 53 hits on Billboard magazine's Country Singles chart, scored a top-40 crossover hit in the summer of 1999 with "Two Teardrops". For his follow-up Steve re-recorded his first charting single from back in 1978, "I'm Already Taken". Written by Wariner with Terry Ryan, the original version climbed to #63 on the country chart...

For his 1999 version, Steve produced the redo himself. The song had Wariner telling the story of waiting for the love of a girl who's been involved continuously since the third grade (!) whenever he gets the nerve to ask her out. Patience wins out in the end, with a "cute" ending to the parable awaiting. Wariner has such a touch on telling a story, and it shows here...

While "I'm Already Taken" spent three weeks at #3 on Billboard's Country Singles chart, it stopped only a couple of notches below the pop crossover top-40 in October of 1999. Internationally, the single went to #10 on the Canadian Country chart. 

(7/10)

 

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Here's Wariner performing the song in concert...