Songoftheday 10/11/23 - At first she's gonna come on strong, like she'll love you all night long...

 

 

"She'll Leave You With A Smile" - George Strait

from the album The Road Less Travelled (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #23 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 12

 

Today's song comes from country music veteran George Strait, who by 2002 had been on the charts for over two decades. His twenty-first studio album The Road Less Travelled had already spun off two big country radio hits that crossed over to the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 with "Run" and "Living And Living Well".  The third and final single from the record was the mid-tempo track "She'll Leave You With A Smile". Written by Odie Blackmon and Jay Knowles (no relation to Beyonce), the lyrics have George singing about a woman who loves them and leaves them, but he (and by extension all of them) don't regret it. Even seeing her again, "One day you'll pass her  on the street with that guy you used to be", he can't help but grin from the memories (lord I don't feel that way). Anyhoo, the production is reflective and pretty in its minor-chord turns as Strait's melody stays positive. The chorus eases into a nice shuffle. Add a nice piano solo and it's a . stand-out track on one of his best albums. The music video was taped in concert...

 Although it was touted in the press as George's 50th #1 country hit, that was taking into account the different music trade magazines around in the 1980's; for Billboard's Country Songs official radio chart, it became his 38th, staying there for two weeks. It also crossed over to the top-40 of Billboard's Hot 100 in December of 2002, and so far it is Strait's best ranking on the list. 

Two more songs from the Road Less Travelled album also got another airplay to make Billboard's Country Songs chart. The also pop-disco of "Stars On The Water", which had George's voice given the Cher treatment with Auto-tune, spent 11 weeks on the list with a high of #50 during the summer of 2002, while the swingin' "The Real Thing" popped on for a week at #60.

 

George will be back to the series.

(7/10)

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Here's the album/radio version of the song...

 

 Up tomorrow: Midwest rapper and his friends show off their sneakers.