Songoftheday 10/21/22 -These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive, these are the moments I'll remember all my life...

 

 

"I Could Not Ask For More" - Sara Evans

from the album Born To Fly (2000)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #35 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 2

 

Today's song comes from country music singer Sara Evans, whose third album had scored her second crossover hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 at the close of 2000 with the title track "Born To Fly".  The second single from the record was a song that had just been a top-40 pop hit for another artist in 1999. "I Could Not Ask For More" was a power-ballad written by song doctor supreme Diane Warren, and originally recorded by Edwin McCain for the soundtrack to the movie Message In A Bottle. McCain's version reached #37 on the Hot 100, while doing pretty well on the older-skewing radio formats of Adult Top-40 (#6) and Adult Contemporary (#3). However it didn't over-saturate the airwaves (as many Warren songs do).

Evans' take on the love song, which she co-produced with Paul Worley, takes better advantage of the sweeping melodies and her much clearer and stronger voice to bring the drama to the song. Add in a string section, and you've got an emotional whirlwind that proved Evans can rival the likes of Martina McBride and such. The music video has her out in the desert, though it gives me the creeps with her in a chair in high heels (what, someone must have carried her there)...

"I Could Not Ask For More" bested McCain's version on the Hot 100 by a pair of notches in June of 2001, though Edwin spent an extra week in the top-40. The song spent a half-year on the Country Airplay chart, with three of them at #2. Both Sara and the album will be back to the series.

(9/10)

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Here's Sara performing the song live in concert in 2007...

The following year, Evans teamed up with Adam Levine and Maroon 5 for CMT's Crossroads program, and included the ballad...

and lastly, for a televised figure skating special in 2013....

I'll be back this weekend with my new single and album recaps, and then on Monday a country duo in pretty stubborn.