Tim McGraw has had a career in country music that most artists only dream about. The 58-year-old has spent 35 years releasing music, amassing dozens of hits. We picked four of McGraw's songs that most defined his career.
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1. "Don't Take the Girl"
"Don't Take the Girl" is McGraw's sixth single, but his first No. 1 hit. The song, from McGraw's sophomore Not A Moment Too Soon album, was written by Craig Martin and Larry W. Johnson. Martin was inspired to write the song while watching his girlfriend make him pizza in his tiny apartment.
"I was kind of talking under my breath to God," Martin recalls to American Songwriter. "And I thought, 'You can take this record deal or this great publishing deal that I had at the time, or any of my possessions. Take any of it but just don't take her.' She was that important to me."
2. "It's Your Love" with Faith Hill
"It's Your Love" is McGraw's first duet with his wife, Faith Hill. The couple were not only newlyweds at the time, but also expectant parents. Hill is very noticeably pregnant with their first child, daughter Gracie, in the video.
"We were dating at the time and we were in the middle of a tour together," McGraw recalls to American Songwriter. Missy Gallimore, the wife of McGraw's producer Byron Gallimore, brought McGraw the song, which he instantly fell in love with.
"We went to the back of the bus to listen," he recounts. "I instantly knew I was going to cut it. I played it for Faith and told her I wanted her to sing on it. We both really felt like we had something."
3. "Live Like You Were Dying"
Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman penned "Live Like You Were Dying," which was not only a No. 1 single at country radio for McGraw, but became a pop hit as well. The timing of the release of the song was also sadly providential. McGraw's father, Tug McGraw, passed away in 2004 from brain cancer earlier that year.
"It showed up and was sent to me in the middle of my father's diagnosis of glioblastoma brain cancer and going through all of his treatments," McGraw recalls to Taste of Country. "He stayed at my cabin out at the farm and we were spending a lot of nights out there with my uncle and my brother just hanging out, listening to music and watching football games. We spent a couple of weeks there before he passed away in the bedroom there in the cabin."
4. "I Like It, I Love It"
Ask anyone to name a McGraw song, and they will likely mention "I Like It, I Love It." The song, out in 1995, is from McGraw's third studio album, All I Want. Perhaps surprisingly, even though "I Like It, I Love It" became a multi-platinum single for McGraw, he initially wasn't sure he wanted to record it.
"I didn't think much about recording it," he recalls (via The Boot), adding that he was "kind of cold" about adding it onto his album at first. "I listened to it again, and for some reason, it hit me a whole lot different the second time around. And then when we went in and cut the track, the track just turned out so fun and so cool that it really didn't matter how much I liked it anymore after we got to the track, because I loved it after that."
