Every #1 Country Single of the Nineties: Vince Gill, “I Still Believe in You”

“I Still Believe in You”

Vince Gill

Written by Vince Gill and John Barlow Jarvis

Billboard

#1 (2 weeks)

September 5 – September 12, 1992

Radio & Records

#1 (1 week)

August 28, 1992

Vince Gill becomes a bona fide superstar.

The Road to No. 1

Gill already had two major CMA Awards under his belt by the time he recorded his third MCA album, I Still Believe in You.  While his two previous albums for the label had each produced only one No. 1 hit, things kicked into a higher gear with this third set, which sent five singles to the penthouse.

The No. 1

“I Still Believe in You” is one of Gill’s finest ballads, a heartfelt mea culpa for getting distracted by fame and fortune, and the responsibilities and expectations that come with those blessings.

“Give me a chance to prove,” he plaintively promises, “and I’ll make it up to you.”  What follows is a recommitment to a marriage that he values above all of his newfound success, and it’s a perfect fit for Gill’s particular way with a ballad.   The man radiates sincerity with every note.

It’s pure perfection, from start to finish.

The Road From No. 1

This became Gill’s third consecutive victory for CMA Song of the Year, and set the groundwork for its parent album to be his top-selling studio set.   We’ll see the next four singles from Gill in this feature, with a bonus chart-topper featuring a fellow Okie in the middle of the run.

“I Still Believe in You” gets an A. 

Every No. 1 Single of the Nineties

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7 Comments

  1. The keys sound dated, but everything else about this song is so perfect. “Tryin’ to Get Over You” was the song that was climbing the charts when I started getting into country music, but this is the song that made me decide that Vince Gill was my favorite music artist!

  2. I remember Vince and John Barlow Jarvis saying that this song was originally written as a fast tempo song, but when Vince recorded it, he decided to try it as a ballad and Jarvis said that he saw all of the dollar signs slipping away in his mind, because he didn’t think it would be a hit as a ballad. I can’t even imagine it as a fast song.

  3. A absolute classic that i’ll admit but I don’t listen as much as other Vince Gill songs. I listened to it after reading and I wonder why? Such a beautiful song. I played “I Still Believe in You” album today and besides it being a classic album but man “Love Never Broke Anyone’s Heart” is a hidden gem

  4. This single announced Gill as one of the all-time great big-voiced balladeers. Imagine Gill as an artist during the Nashville Sound years. I guess he hinted at what that might sound like with “If You Ever Have Forever in Mind.”

    “I Still Believe in You” is a vocal-performance classic.

    Given how huge a star he was, and how awarded he was by the the ACM’S, CMA’s, and Grammy’s, it is surprising how quickly country radio moved on from his music and him as a celebrity. I wonder what younger country listeners think of Vince Gill and his legacy.

  5. While I usually tend to prefer Vince when he’s in traditional country mode over his more contemporary sounding efforts, this has always been one of my all time favorites from him. I just love the sincerity in the lyrics and his performance coupled with the pretty melody and arrangement. It’s simply a beautiful record, and another one of his best ballads!

    And yet again, it’s another Summer of 1992 hit that I somehow didn’t get to hear as much during it’s original chart run. I do, however, remember hearing it a lot as a recurrent throughout the mid-late 90’s, and as a result, this song always takes me back to that time period much more than it does the early 90’s. I especially remember this being one of my favorite songs whenever it came on the radio as a recurrent around late 1997-early 1998 during my first middle school year. For a while, I never even realized the song went back as far as 1992!

    The I Still Believe In You album is also another one of my favorite albums from Vince. Besides the singles, I also love “Say Hello” (which I consider the cousin to “Take Your Memory With You”), “Under These Conditions,” and “Pretty Words.” I just gave the above mentioned “Love Never Broke Anyone’s Heart” a listen after not having heard it in a while, and it’s just become another one of my favorite non-singles from the album. Yet another winning waltz from Vince!

    Btw, I always really enjoyed the video for this song, as well. Simple, yet beautifully shot.

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