U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Peak Position No. 79
Backstory: This American singer-songwriter from Hamilton, Ohio was born in 1953 and moved to Nashville when he was 10. He started writing songs in the early 70's and even wrote songs for artists such as Juice Newton, Kenny Rogers, and Crystal Gayle. Then, in 1981, he released his first charting single off of the short-lived Handshake Records and Tapes label, this minor hit which couldn't climb higher than 79. Famous country singer Lee Greenwood of, "God Bless the U.S.A." fame would later cover the tune in 1984, where it got to as high as No. 9 on the Billboard Country Charts and No. 6 on the Canadian Country Charts. Stephenson would only have two other songs chart, both in 1984, though they were both much bigger successes than this one was: "Modern Day Delilah" (No. 22), and, "What the Big Girls Do". He would only release one more album in 1986, though he would still work in the music industry for a bit longer. Sadly in 2001, he died from a form of cancer called melanoma. He was just 47.
The review: While I don't think that this tune is a masterpiece, it certainly deserved to do a whole lot better than just getting as high as No. 79 on the charts. It's a soft and sweet soft rock love song with a feel and vibe to it, and Stephenson has a really nice voice in this song. The instrumentation is quite simple, but it still flows along really fine. Overall, just a really good soft rock song, though it's not a masterpiece.
Final rating: 8/10
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