I'll Try

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"I'll Try"
Alan Jackson - Ill Try single cover.JPG
Single by Alan Jackson
from the album The Greatest Hits Collection
B-side "Home"
ReleasedJanuary 1, 1996
RecordedMay 31, 1995 [1]
Genre Country
Length3:51
Label Arista Nashville
Songwriter(s) Alan Jackson
Producer(s) Keith Stegall
Alan Jackson singles chronology
"Tall, Tall Trees"
(1995)
"I'll Try"
(1996)
"Home"
(1996)

"I'll Try" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Alan Jackson. It was released in January 1996 as the second single from his 1995 compilation album The Greatest Hits Collection . Like "Tall, Tall Trees" (the other newly recorded track on that compilation), it was a number-one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks. [2] It also reached number 5 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart.

Contents

Background and writing

Jackson told Billboard magazine, "Everybody kept telling me, 'You need to come out with a positive love song.' I've had a lot of sad ballads, but I have a hard time writing those [positive love songs] because there's a tendency to get real sappy with them so they're not real. That's the way most of them come off to me. I wanted to write one that was realistic, what I call a realistic approach to a positive love song." [3]

Content

The song is a love ballad with the male narrator pledging his faithfulness to his significant other regardless of the relationship complications that may occasionally arise and despite the narrator's imperfect well-being. The line "We both know damn well it's not easy together," from the first verse, was changed to "We both know too well..." in the radio edit. [4]

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying "How refreshing—an honest love song. Instead of promising the moon and stars, Jackson has penned a song that simply says, "I'm not perfect, just another man/But I will give you all that I am/And I'll try to love only you/And I'll try my best to be true/Oh darlin' I'll try." What more could a woman want? Honesty is the best policy, and this realistic look at love is destined to be a hit with country music lovers everywhere." [5]

Chart positions

"I'll Try" debuted at number 67 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of December 30, 1995.

Chart (1996)Peak
position
Canada Country Tracks ( RPM ) [6] 5
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [7] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (1996)Position
Canada Country Tracks ( RPM ) [8] 71
US Country Songs ( Billboard ) [9] 29

References

  1. The Greatest Hits Collection (CD). Alan Jackson. Arista Records. 1995. 07822 18801.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  2. Huey, Steve. "Alan Jackson biography". Allmusic. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
  3. Billboard , September 16, 1995
  4. Hirschhorn, Joel (2004). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Songwriting, 2nd Edition. ISBN   9781592572113.
  5. "Country." Billboard 108.2 (1996): 62. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. May 18, 2011.
  6. "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 2917." RPM . Library and Archives Canada. March 18, 1996. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  7. "Alan Jackson Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  8. "RPM Top 100 Country Tracks of 1996". RPM . December 16, 1996. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  9. "Best of 1996: Country Songs". Billboard . Prometheus Global Media. 1996. Retrieved July 20, 2013.