Every No. 1 Country Single of the Eighties: Alabama, “Feels So Right”

“Feels So Right”

Alabama

Written by Randy Owen

Radio & Records

#1 (3 weeks)

July 3 – July 17, 1981

Billboard

#1 (2 weeks)

July 18 – July 25, 1981

Alabama’s fourth consecutive No. 1 single accelerated the band’s popularity, crossing over to the pop charts and being released in international markets.

“Feels So Right” feels so right out of the Bread playbook.  The arrangement is basically “If” with some light steel guitar, warm and inoffensive and lovely to slow dance to.

Records like this made it easy for Alabama to play the role of transitioning seventies soft rock fans into the country market, and that’s key to their importance during this era.  They were effective at getting the fans to cross over to country, rather than just the band crossing over to pop.

The song has a nice slow burn quality to it, and it sets the band up nicely for their next single, which is far more infectious and would be their biggest Hot 100 hit.

“Feels So Right” gets a B+

Every No. 1 Single of the Eighties

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3 Comments

  1. I never made a connection between this song and Bread (which is an incredible compliment, by the way). But I hear it now.

    If I’m not mistaken, Owen wrote this to a teenaged girlfriend/crush. It’s a beautiful song and I was glad it became a pop hit as well as a country number one. It was all over all the radio stations back in 1981.

    I would’ve given it an A for quality and a lot of great memories.

  2. There’s a stripped-down performance of this song performed by Randy Owen on Larry’s Country Diner (interjected with some charming stories) that I absolutely love. I really like this song and this era of Alabama as a whole.

  3. An artistic upswing in the perpetual game of yo-yo Alabama kept me tied to from the start of their career.

    These moments are admittedly loaded with optimism.

    This song had me believing in Alabama again. They sound great here.

    In yo-you terms, it’s a sleeper!

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