Sometimes She Forgets

"Sometimes She Forgets"
Single by Travis Tritt
from the album Greatest Hits: From the Beginning
B-side "Only You (And You Alone)"
Released August 7, 1995
Format CD single, 7" single
Recorded 1995
Genre Country
Length 3:45 (Single version)
4:36 (Album version)
Label Warner Bros. 17792
Writer(s) Steve Earle
Producer(s) Gregg Brown
Travis Tritt singles chronology
"Tell Me I Was Dreaming"
(1995)
"Sometimes She Forgets"
(1995)
"Only You (And You Alone)"
(1996)

"Sometimes She Forgets" is a song written by Steve Earle. Earle recorded it on his 1995 Train a Comin' album.

The highest charting version of the song was recorded by country music artist Travis Tritt, and was released in August 1995 as the lead-off single from his first greatest hits album Greatest Hits: From the Beginning released in 1995. It peaked at #7 in the United States, and #6 in Canada.

Background

In the liner notes from Train a Comin', Earle indicates that he wrote the song in 1979. At that time, he was a staff writer in Nashville, before he had a recording contract. Earle did not record the song on his first four studio albums, but an early version was included on a set of demos, Uncut Gems, in the early 1990s. Earle's management circulated the demos to other artists when Earle's career was threatened by his drug use and he had been dropped from his label.[1] This resulted in Tritt covering the song, as well as recordings of lesser known versions by Martin Delray (1992) and Stacy Dean Campbell (1995). After getting sober in 1994, Earle recorded the song, as well as some of his other early work, on his acoustic album Train a Comin', released February 28, 1995.

Travis Tritt Version

Tritt has described his version as a departure from his usual style. He told Billboard magazine that he and co-producer Gregg Brown cut the song with a little different flavor. "It's got a different feel from anything you've heard from me in a long time, maybe ever. The way we cut this song reminds me almost of a 'Tequila Sunrise'-type thing," Tritt says, referring to the classic Eagles song. "It's got a real good rhythm, almost a calypso kind of thing in there."[2]

Deborah Evans Price, of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that it has an "intriguing calypso flavor that plays appealingly against the solid country lyric." She goes on to say that Tritt's strongest asset is his vocal and he delivers the song with "heartfelt authority."[3]

Tritt's music video was directed by Michael Merriman. The video features a view of New York City. It peaked at #1 on CMT's Top 12 Countdown (now CMT's Top 20 Countdown) in 1995.

Chart positions

Tritt's version of "Sometimes She Forgets" debuted at number 63 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of August 19, 1995. Tritt's version charted in the U.S. and Canada.

Chart (1995) Peak
position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[4] 6
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[5] 7

References

  1. Kemper, Lisa. Steve Earle Biography, http://www.steveearle.net/bio/
  2. Billboard, August 26, 1995
  3. Billboard, August 12, 1995
  4. "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 2831." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. December 11, 1995. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
  5. "Travis Tritt Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Hot Country Songs for Travis Tritt.

External links