| "I Loved Her First" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Heartland | ||||
| from the album I Loved Her First | ||||
| Released | June 5, 2006 | |||
| Format | CD single | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 3:33 | |||
| Label | Lofton Creek | |||
| Writer(s) | Walt Aldridge Elliott Park |
|||
| Producer | Walt Aldridge | |||
| Heartland singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"I Loved Her First" is the title of a song written by Walt Aldridge and Elliott Park, and recorded by American country music group Heartland. It was released in June 2006 as the band's debut single, it reached Number One on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in late 2006.[1]
Contents |
The song is a mid-tempo ballad in triple meter. In it, the male narrator is talking to the man who is about to marry his daughter, telling him that he is having difficulty giving her away because he "loved her first."
Deborah Evans Price, of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling it a "beautifully written tearjerker that will hit home with dads everywhere who can't believe their little girls have grown up so soon." She calls Albert's performance "wonderful" and says that it "wrings every drop of emotion from the tender lyric."[2]
The music video was directed by Todd Schaffer and premiered in mid-2006. It features the group singing and a family at a wedding reception.
"I Loved Her First" debuted at number 57 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of July 8, 2006.
| Chart (2006) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Country Songs (Billboard)[3] | 1 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[4] | 34 |
| US Billboard Pop 100 | 56 |
| Preceded by "Would You Go with Me" by Josh Turner |
Billboard Hot Country Songs number-one single October 28, 2006 |
Succeeded by "Every Mile a Memory" by Dierks Bentley |