| "Tim McGraw" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single byTaylor Swift | ||||
| from the albumTaylor Swift | ||||
| Written | 2005 | |||
| Released | June 19, 2006 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:52 | |||
| Label | Big Machine | |||
| Songwriters |
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| Producer | Nathan Chapman | |||
| Taylor Swift singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Tim McGraw" onYouTube | ||||
"Tim McGraw" is the debutsingle by the American singer-songwriterTaylor Swift, released on June 19, 2006, byBig Machine Records. Swift wrote the song withLiz Rose for her debut studio album,Taylor Swift (2006). Produced byNathan Chapman, "Tim McGraw" is an acoustic guitar-ledcountry andcountry popballad that incorporates the'50s progression and featuresfiddle,mandolin, andDobro guitar. The lyrics are about a summer romance that has passed: the narrator pleads with her ex-boyfriend to remember her every time he hears her favorite song by the country musicianTim McGraw, the track's namesake.
Music critics praised "Tim McGraw" for its engaging narrative with memorable details and nostalgia-inducing sentiments. Retrospective reviews have regarded the single as a blueprint for Swift's songwriting.Rolling Stone featured it on their lists "100 Greatest Debut Singles of All Time" (2020) and "200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time" (2024). In the United States, "Tim McGraw" peaked at number 40 on theBillboard Hot 100 and number six onHot Country Songs. The track charted at number 10 onCanada Country and has receivedcertifications in Australia and the United States.
Trey Fanjoy directed themusic video, in which Swift's character and the ex-boyfriend reminisce about a past summer romance in ruralTennessee. Swift promoted "Tim McGraw" and her debut album with a six-month radio tour in 2006 and byopening for other country musicians' tours in 2006 and 2007. She performed the song at the42nd Academy of Country Music Awards in 2007; included it in the set list of her first headlining tour, theFearless Tour (2009–2010); and performed it on several dates of her later tours.
In 2004,Pennsylvania-bornTaylor Swift moved toNashville, Tennessee at 14 to pursue a career incountry music.[1] She signed a songwriting contract withSony/ATV Music Publishing in 2004—the youngest signee in its history[2]—and arecording contract withBig Machine Records in 2005.[3] Swift spent four months near the end of 2005 recording her debut album,Taylor Swift;[4] recording was wrapped by the time Swift had completed herfreshman year of high school.[5]
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Swift developed the idea for "Tim McGraw" during a math class at school and wrote it within 15 minutes. She thought about how her relationship with hersenior boyfriend would end because he would leave for college: "I started thinking about all the things that I knew would remind him of me."[6] After finishing school, she came to the Sony/ATV office to finish the song with co-writerLiz Rose; they completed the track on a piano.[7][8] According to Rose, Swift came to her with "the idea and the melody, knowing exactly what she wanted".[9] The two brainstormed ideas to polish the track, and the first thing that came to Swift was her love forTim McGraw's music.[9] The final lyrics contain several personal references, including Swift's favorite song of McGraw: "Can't Tell Me Nothin" from his 2004 albumLive Like You Were Dying.[10]
Swift initially titled the track "When You Think Tim McGraw", a decision that Rose considered "weird" but also "bold".[8][11] She approached the producerNathan Chapman to record the song. Chapman had produceddemos for other artists in Nashville, and his studio was a converted one-car garage at the back of the Sony/ATV offices.[12] Big Machine was skeptical of Chapman because he had not produced a commercial album, but Swift believed they had the "right chemistry".[4] He said that when Swift first played the song to him, he was astonished by the emotional engagement and thought of the song as a refreshing way to depict a romance between two people. He arranged the instruments, played both acoustic and electric guitars, and sang background vocals; other instruments recorded for "Tim McGraw" includefiddle,mandolin, bass guitar,Dobro guitar, and drums.[12][13]
In a meeting that Swift had with Big Machine's headScott Borchetta to discuss which songs would be featured on her debut album, she performed "Tim McGraw" for Borchetta onukulele. As soon as Swift finished singing it, Borchetta decided that it would be her firstsingle.[9] He suggested that Swift rename it "Tim McGraw", deeming it a move that could make fans of McGraw—a contemporary country "superstar"—immediately become curious in her name.[11][14] Swift initially did not believe that "Tim McGraw" was an appropriate choice for a single, but she retrospectively reflected that it was a right decision.[15] Big Machine released "Tim McGraw" tocountry radio in the United States on June 19, 2006.[16] It is first on the track listing ofTaylor Swift, released on October 24, 2006.[7][13] After the2019 dispute regarding the ownership of Swift's albums that Big Machine had released, "Tim McGraw" wasreissued on7-inch vinyl by Big Machine on August 16, 2019.[17]
To promote the single, Swift spent mid-2006 sending promotional copies of "Tim McGraw" to country radio stations across the United States: "With every envelope that I would seal I would look at the address and the station on there and think, 'Please, please just listen to this one time.'"[18] She also encouraged her fans viaMyspace to request their local radio stations to play the song.[19][20] Swift said that when the subject of "Tim McGraw" learned about the song, he thought it was "cool" and kept his friendship with her despite their breakup.[21] In a 2021 interview withApple Music, McGraw said that he initially had some reservations about the song ("Have I gotten to that age now to where they're singing songs about me? Does that mean I'vejumped the shark a bit?"), but he ultimately enjoyed it and became friends with Swift.[22]
In the United States, "Tim McGraw" debuted at number 60 on theHot Country Songs chart dated July 1, 2006.[23] It reached the top 10 of Hot Country Songs by December 2006[24] and peaked at number six on the chart dated January 27, 2007.[25] On theBillboard Hot 100 chart, the single debuted at number 86 on the issue dated September 26, 2006,[26] peaked at number 40 on January 13, 2007,[27] and spent 20 weeks.[28] It was one of the Award-Winning Songs at the 2007 Country Awards byBroadcast Music, Inc., which honored the most-played country songs on United States television and airplay of the year.[29] The single had sold 1.6 million digital copies by November 2017[30] and wascertified double platinum, for surpassing two million units based on sales and streaming, by theRecording Industry Association of America in March 2020.[31] Elsewhere, the single peaked at number 10 on theCanada Country chart[32] and has beencertified gold in Australia.[33]
"Tim McGraw" is 3 minutes and 52 seconds long.[34] It is amid-tempo country andcountry popballad[35][36][37] that is driven by atwelve-string guitar[36][38] and incorporates fiddle, Dobro, and banjo.[10] Swift sings in the low range of hersoprano.[39] Critics described the production of "Tim McGraw" as understated and simple.[36][40] The music criticAnnie Zaleski described the tones of the instruments as "wistful" and "keening".[10]
Written in the key ofG major, "Tim McGraw" uses the'50s progression (I—vi—IV—V; G—Em—C—D), which is associated with late-1950s and early-1960sdoo-wop androck and roll songs.[41] The minor vi chord adds a sense of melancholy and wistfulness to the sound, as described by Zaleski and themusicologist James E. Perone.[42] According to Perone, by using the '50s progression, "Tim McGraw" evokes classic hits such asDolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" (1974),the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman" (1961), andHoagy Carmichael's "Heart and Soul" (1938)[43] and thus has a timeless feel to it.[41]
Therefrain, as described by Perone, is "motivically based"—each one of the melodicmotif is built within a smallpitch range. According to Perone, this, as well as the fact that the refrain is built on repetitions of the initial short motif, gives the song acatchy tune that makes the audience want to sing along to.[44] Additionally, the refrain—and to a certain extent, theverses—usessyncopation at thesixteenth-note level, which lends the song a production reminiscent to non-country genres such asalternative rock andhip-hop.[44]
"Tim McGraw" is about a summer romance that has passed and left behind fleeting memories.[36][44] In the opening lines, the narrator recalls how her ex-boyfriend deemed her eyes superior to "Georgia stars at night", a compliment that she deems exaggerated.[10][45] She details the breakup in the second verse: although she spent September crying, she is relieved that the ex-boyfriend was not there to witness her mourning, for she believes that it will preserve the beautiful memories intact.[46] In the refrain, the narrator pleads with him to remember her every time he hears a song by Tim McGraw that they once danced to at night.[36][40] She mentions several other items and moments that she hopes will make him reminisce about their love: herlittle black dress, her faded blue jeans, the nature surrounding them the night they danced to the song, and the moment she laid her head on his chest.[47] In the final verse, the narrator confesses that she has written him a letter detailing her hopes that he will remember her fondly.[10]
While Swift wrote "Tim McGraw" envisioning the end of her relationship before it actually ended, its narrative incorporates motifs of memory and passage of time, which evoke nostalgic sentiments, in the views of critics;[48][49]Maura Johnston ofPitchfork dubbed the song "saudade-drenched".[39] Although the narrator wishes her ex-boyfriend to remember her, she knows she cannot control that and thus expresses her desire through repetitions of the phrase "I hope": "I hope it takes you back to that place", "I hope you think of me."[50] According to the English-literature academic Maggie Laurel Boyd, "Tim McGraw" presents Swift's memories not only to the subject (her physical appearance, clothing items, and the McGraw song) but also to the audience (her mourning the breakup). In doing so, she demonstrates that memory is personal and manipulatable, and that she could choose which evidence to conjecture her story.[46] For the English literature scholar Miranda Steege, this was also Swift's agency to control her narrative over an inevitable ending.[49]
Although the song is romantic in nature,[51] some critics commented that the opening lines where the narrator responds to her ex-boyfriend's compliment, "That's a lie", showcase a cynical or skeptic aspect to her character.[45][52] The final refrain depicts how time has passed and the relationship has ended: "Someday you'll turn your radio on."[53] According to the musicologist Nate Sloan, Swift's technique of structuring how a song progresses and tells a story with a timeline of events, including a reinterpretation of the storyline in the final refrain, is rooted in country-music tradition dated back to the 1980s. Dubbed the "Time-Shift paradigm" by the music theorist Jocelyn Neal, this practice invokes sentiments of nostalgia, loss, and distance from a seemingly familiar experience, which creates an emotional engagement with the listener.[53]
The cultural studies academic Shaun Cullen wrote that the lyrical details of "Tim McGraw", which evoke aSouthern United States rural life ("backroads", "blue jeans", "Chevy truck", "Georgia stars"), were instrumental in creating Swift's early image as a country musician, overcoming her "outsider" status because she had lived in the South for only a few years before she became popular.[54]
Music critics generally praised "Tim McGraw" as a solid debut single. There were positive comments regarding the production:Rob Sheffield ofBlender wrote that the song "hit [...] hard" because of Swift's "personality and poise",[55] and Jonathan Keefe ofSlant Magazine highlighted its "massive pophooks".[56] Multiple critics praised Swift's vocals;[35][57]Jeff Tamarkin ofAllMusic considered them both girlish and mature,[34] and Keith Groller ofThe Morning Call deemed Swift's voice youthful but also a "good fit" for the melancholy and reflective sentiments of the subject matter.[58] Roger Holland ofPopMatters said that its "suitably twangy and atmospheric" qualities made it comparable to "some of the best country singles of recent years", but he said the title "causes [him] to break out in hives from time to time".[35]
The lyrics also received positive reviews for their nostalgic sentiments. Jon Bream of theStar Tribune hailed the song as "an ingenious way of mixing a clever hook with believable sentiment"[59] and included the song in his list of the "12 singles that made me turn up the radio".[60] Tamarkin thought that associating a musician like McGraw with lost romance was a familiar songwriting device, but Swift managed to make it sound original and considered it a successful hook.[34]The Arizona Republic's Ed Masley contended that the vulnerability portrayed made the song relatable.[40]Rolling Stone selected the track as an example of Swift's early success for "sounding bright-eyed but remarkably seasoned".[51]
Multiple critics have considered "Tim McGraw" a blueprint for Swift's songwriting about lost love, romantic longing, and nostalgia, which came to define much of her artistry.[39][48][61] In this regard, the communication scholar Keith Nainby considered "Tim McGraw" hersignature song.[62] Some reviews have commented that the title was an ingenious move for Swift to attract early attention from country music fans.[52][63]Rolling Stone featured "Tim McGraw" in two of its all-time rankings: "100 Greatest Debut Singles of All Time" (2020), on which "Tim McGraw" is ranked at number 11,[64] and "200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time" (2024), on which the song is ranked at number 124.[65]
Themusic video for "Tim McGraw" was directed byTrey Fanjoy and filmed inHendersonville, Tennessee; the cabin featured in the video was a property ofJohnny Cash.[66][67] Swift said that the male lead was cast because of his physical resemblance to the subject of the song.[68] The video premiered on July 22, 2006, onGreat American Country.[69] It was nominated for "Number One Streamed Video From a New Artist (Rookie of the Year Award)" at the web-hosted 2006 CMT Online Awards[70] and won "Breakthrough Video of the Year" at the2007 CMT Music Awards.[71]
The video begins with Swift dressed in a white sundress and lying on the grass by a lake, holding atransistor radio, as evening approaches. She begins singing the song as the ex-boyfriend is seen departing the town driving a 1970Chevrolet CST-10. He turns on the radio, listens to the song that Swift sings, and turns back to the cabin. There, he opens a letter, wedged to the door, addressed to "Johnny". Between these scenes are flashbacks of their memories, such as them frolicking in a field, lying in a pickup truck and watching the stars, and slow dancing.[72]
In 2006, Swift spent six months promoting "Tim McGraw" andTaylor Swift on a radio tour[4] and performed the song during several country music festivals.[73][74] In July 2006, she gave an acoustic performance of severalTaylor Swift tracks, including "Tim McGraw", atBillboard's headquarters in New York City.[75] To further promote the album, Swiftopened for other country musicians' tours through 2006–2008. She performed "Tim McGraw" during her opening sets forRascal Flatts in 2006;[76] forGeorge Strait,[77]Brad Paisley,[78] and Tim McGraw andFaith Hill's joint tourSoul2Soul II Tour in 2007;[10] and for Rascal Flatts again in 2008.[79] A performance at anApple Store inSoHo, Manhattan, was recorded and released as part of anextended play exclusively via theiTunes Store on January 15, 2008.[80][81]
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Swift also performed "Tim McGraw" on broadcast television shows. On October 24, 2006, she performed the track live onGood Morning America[82] andThe Megan Mullally Show.[83] Swift had her first awards show performance at the42nd Academy of Country Music Awards on May 15, 2007, where she sang "Tim McGraw" strumming an acoustic guitar.[84] After finishing her performance, she stood up to greet McGraw, who sat in the front row.[85][86] Reflecting on the performance,Billboard's Hannah Dailey thought that it showcased how Swift had enough "audacity" to name her debut single after one of country music's biggest stars and sing it in front of him on live television, which proved her relentless talent and ambition to reach new career heights into the 2010s and 2020s decades.[87]
During promotion of her second studio album,Fearless, in 2009, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" during several festivals that she headlined, includingHouston Livestock Show and Rodeo,[88]Florida Strawberry Festival,[89]Craven Country Jamboree, andWE Fest.[90] She included the song in the set list of her first headlining concert tour, theFearless Tour (2009–2010); it was part of an acoustic set that Swift performed on a small, rotating "B-stage" platform located on the floor level of the venues.[91][92] Swift, dressed in a sundress andcowboy boots, sat on a wooden stool while performing with a wooden acoustic guitar strapped to her shoulder.[91][93] After she finished the set, she stood up and walked back to the main stage, hugging fans and signing autographs along the way.[91][93][94]
After the Fearless Tour, "Tim McGraw" ceased to be a frequent live number in Swift's concerts, although she did perform it on several dates of her later tours.[85] Onthe Red Tour, she performed the song during the concert inToronto on June 14, 2013.[95] Swift did not perform the song again in over five years;[10] during the Nashville concert as part of theReputation Stadium Tour on August 25, 2018, Swift sang "Tim McGraw" solo on piano before introducing Tim McGraw and Faith Hill onstage to sing with her.[96] Zaleski contended that the moment McGraw joined her onstage was "a goose-bump-inducing, full-circle moment that was deeply satisfying".[10] Onthe Eras Tour, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" three times:[97] she sang it on piano at the March 17, 2023, concert inGlendale, Arizona;[98] as part of amashup on acoustic guitar with "Cowboy like Me" at the March 9, 2024, concert inSingapore; and as part of a mashup on acoustic guitar with "Timeless" at the October 18, 2024, concert inMiami.[97]
Credits are adapted from theliner notes ofTaylor Swift.[13]
| Chart (2006–2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| CanadaCountry (Billboard)[32] | 10 |
| USBillboard Hot 100[99] | 40 |
| USHot Country Songs (Billboard)[100] | 6 |
| USPop 100 (Billboard)[101] | 69 |
| Chart (2007) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[102] | 59 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[33] | Gold | 35,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[31] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
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