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On this day in 1989, Garth Brooks released his first No. 1 single, “If Tomorrow Never Comes”

On this day (August 21) in 1989, Garth Brooks released “If Tomorrow Never Comes” as a single from his debut album. It would become the first of many No. 1 songs for the Oklahoma native. It also became a staple of his live shows.

With a stack of hit singles, tens of millions of albums sold and a trophy case full of awards, Brooks is one of the biggest stars in country music history. Many artists have to wait until they find their rhythm and start producing hits. But that was not the case with him. His first single landed in the top 10 and was the start of a string of hits. Between 1989 and 1999, his songs missed the top 10 of the Billboard He only managed to reach the country charts six times.

[RELATED: Watch Garth Brooks Perform His Signature Song, “Friends in Low Places” at His First CMA Awards Performance]

Garth Brooks lands his first No. 1

Garth Brooks co-wrote “If Tomorrow Never Comes” with Kent Blazy. He released it in 1989 as the second single from his self-titled debut album. It became his first No. 1 single. Decades later, Brooks still calls it his signature song.

Although “If Tomorrow Never Comes” is a love song, it is not about the connection between the narrator and his lover. Instead, it is a song about the love between a father and daughter. This explains lines like And if my time on earth were over / And she had to face this world without me / The love I gave her in the past / Will be enough to endure / When there is never a tomorrow. If the lyrics were about his lover, it would be slightly infantilizing to wonder how she would fare if she had to “face the world” without the narrator. On the other hand, these worries make a lot more sense when one is worried about the future of one's own child.

Brooks wrote about the song in the liner notes for The hits“'If Tomorrow Never Comes' will probably always be my signature song,” he wrote. “I pitched the idea for that song to what felt like thousands of writers and no one seemed to really understand what I was looking for. The day Bob Doyle, my co-manager, introduced me to Kent Blazy, I gave Kent the idea and he had the first verse in fifteen seconds. I could see he just felt it,” Brooks recalled.

Featured image by Shutterstock

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