Every #1 Single of the Nineties: Sammy Kershaw, “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful”

“She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful”

Sammy Kershaw

Written by Paul Harrison and Bob McDill

Billboard

#1 (1 week)

April 24, 1993

Radio & Records

#1 (1 week)

April 16, 1993

An underrated nineties star tops the chart for the first time.

The Road to No. 1

Sammy Kershaw was born into a musical family, third cousin to cajun music legends Rusty and Doug Kershaw.  But he paid his dues from an early age, playing roadhouses from age 12 and opening for his idol, George Jones, at age 14.  Substance abuse issues temporarily derailed his rise to fame, but by the late eighties, he was living clean, and a demo of his work got the attention of Mercury Records.

His 1991 debut album, Don’t Go Near the Water, sold platinum and produced four top twenty hits, including “Cadillac Style” and “Yard Sale.”  His second album, Haunted Heart, produced his first chart-topper with its first single.

The No. 1

Everything about this record works.  Kershaw keeps the sentimentality in check, delivering a vocal that deftly communicates just how baffled the narrator is that his partner is unaware of her stunning beauty.

It’s in the tradition of great Conway Twitty songs like “I’d Love to Lay You Down,” with Kershaw seeing the beauty in every moment: “Morning comes and her hair’s all a mess, that’s when she thinks she looks the worst. It’s times like this she don’t know why I can’t keep my eyes off her.”

It’s solid enough an idea that One Direction borrowed it decades later for a massive pop hit, but for me, nothing replaces the charm of this traditional-sounding record that somehow still sounds fresh today.

The Road From No. 1

Haunted Heart repeated the platinum sales of its predecessor, and after two more top ten hits – the title track and “Queen of My Double Wide Trailer” – the fourth single returned Kershaw to the top.  We’ll cover it in 1994.

“She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful” gets an A.

Every No. 1 Single of the Nineties

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7 Comments

  1. I acknowledge it’s a well-constructed song. When I was a kid, WOKQ just played the darn thing so often, on heavy rotation long after it went recurrent, that I was never able to get over that over-exposure, and to this day it’s one I could take or leave.

  2. I like this song, but I agree with Stephen H. that it did get overplayed a bit as a recurrent.

    This is actually one of the last new country songs I remember hearing on the radio in the Spring of 1993 not long before my attention shifted more towards the oldies station my mom was listening to. When I got back into country full time in the mid 90’s, I always enjoyed hearing this one as a recurrent. However, in the early 00’s, I started growing frustrated that both this and “Third Rate Romance” seemed to be the only Sammy Kershaw songs that radio remembered, especially since I thought he had even better singles than those two (Similar to how radio only seemed to remember “She’s In Love With The Boy” from Trisha). While this is still not one of my top favorites from Sammy, I agree that it’s a charming record, and I’m pretty much back to really liking it again. I would much rather hear it on the radio a lot again, than the majority of what’s currently on the radio even once.

    My introduction to Sammy Kershaw was of course “Cadillac Style,” but I remember the moment I really became familiar with him as a new artist was when I saw the video for “Don’t Go Near The Water” playing on CMT while we were still living in my dad’s house in early 1992. I’m still a bit surprised that nothing off his first album hit number one, especially “Cadillac Style.” I really like the still huge fan favorite, “Yard Sale,” as well.

    It’s also interesting to note that this song was when he seemed to start slowly moving away from the heavy George Jones influence that was all over that first album.

  3. I will always remember my visiting cousin-in-law from Australia listening to this song and saying, “That, mate, is a pretty stupid song!”

    I remember it because I am/was a huge Sammy Kershaw fan. His comment hurt because it wasn’t likely too far from wrong.

    This number is more ear-worm than strong song writing. Kershaw sells it with his typical enthusiasm and charm and the single “works” because of it. Nonetheless, it didn’t seem fair that this was the song that saw him first reach the top of the charts.

    Kershaw has a strong discography of underappreciated albums and singles.

  4. I will always remember my visiting cousin-in-law from Australia listening to this song and saying, “That, mate, is a pretty stupid song!”

    I remember it because I am/was a huge Sammy Kershaw fan. His comment hurt because it wasn’t likely too far from wrong.

    This number is more ear-worm than strong song writing. Kershaw sells it with his typical enthusiasm and charm and the single “works” because of it. Nonetheless, it didn’t seem fair that this was the song that saw him first reach the top of the charts.

    Kershaw has a strong discography of underappreciated albums and singles.

  5. Sammy Kershaw is one of my favourite 90s artists, but I agree with Peter Saros here. It’s certainly not a bad song, and Kershaw sings it well, but it’s not one of my favourites of his.

    “Kershaw has a strong discography of underappreciated albums and singles.” I agree completely with this statement.

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