Hit songs don't get a whole lot bigger than this. Sure there are lots of big lovey-dovey songs, but few have this impact. The importance of this song is, it's the definition of a song that pretty much everyone on earth liked, its popularity was - well - Amazing. It sold millions and was #1 country for eight weeks and was on the A/C charts as well. This song also charted very well on charts all over the world over the course of a few years. This became the wedding anthem for a generation and was used for themes for about every major occasion there is. This has an appeal that's very rare but has been tried a million times. This is kind of "format-less." It's all things to all people, which in music and life almost never works. As many times as other artists have tried to do a song like this, it seldom takes off. It's country enough for country fans, pop enough for those non country, and the message is universal. For some reason it's accepted wholeheartedly by all audiences, and that's darn rare. Sometimes, everything just falls into place. I would say this is one of the most loved songs over the last 30 years, skyrocketing Lonestar to heights unimaginable. Still a loved power ballad and will be for years to come. Hard to think this was 25 years ago, but it was. What a hit, that brought country to many new listeners that eventually came to us and stayed. Every artist comes to Nashville hoping for a song this big.
