"I'll Try" | ||||
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Single by Alan Jackson | ||||
from the album The Greatest Hits Collection | ||||
B-side | "Home" | |||
Released | January 1, 1996 | |||
Recorded | May 31, 1995 [1] | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 3:51 | |||
Label | Arista Nashville | |||
Songwriter(s) | Alan Jackson | |||
Producer(s) | Keith Stegall | |||
Alan Jackson singles chronology | ||||
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"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.
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]
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]
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]
"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 |
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Canada Country Tracks ( RPM ) [6] | 5 |
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [7] | 1 |
Chart (1996) | Position |
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Canada Country Tracks ( RPM ) [8] | 71 |
US Country Songs ( Billboard ) [9] | 29 |
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