“Watch the Wind Blow By”
Tim McGraw
Written by Dylan Altman and Anders Osborne
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
March 19, 2004
Billboard
#1 (2 weeks)
March 20 – March 27, 2004
Tim McGraw is set to go into the Country Music Hall of Fame this year, and I couldn’t be happier.
He remains my favorite of all of the male country artists who launched in the nineties, largely because of his impeccable choice of material.
“Watch the Wind Blow By” is a breezy ballad that is a step or two below his strongest material. Maybe that’s why he’s oversinging on the track to compensate.
This undercuts the vibe of the song, with its smooth production that really does sound like the wind blowing by. This would be at least a B+ if he wasn’t singing so forcefully.
It’s a vibe killer.
“Watch the Wind Blow By” gets a B-.
Every No. 1 Single of the 2000s
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Glad to see this series return!! I will admit I was never a Tim fan during the Hight of his popularity but now when I hear some of his songs I am kinda upset with myself that I missed a lot of good stuff! His more mature songs have started to impress me. This is good. A solid “B”.
Also thrilled to see the number one series come back! I don’t think I paid much attention at the time to the oversinging on this record; I think my brain just processed it as decent radio filler. But it does mess up the breezy vibe. Sort of reminds me how Zac Brown Band’s “No Hurry” takes a sudden turn and pivots away from a carefree mood that feels quite disruptive.
Count me as another thrilled to see this series’ long-awaited return.
Unfortunately, the series is returning with a song I always felt had nothing to say and expressed that nothingness as blandly and dispassionately as any high-performing song on the charts of its era. I don’t know what happened with Tim McGraw in the Dancehall Doctors era but he went from a guy I counted on for above-average singles to a guy pulling up the rear with the most forgettable mediocrity to fill radio’s declining airwaves.
I’m scrambling at 6:30 a.m. to articulate a metaphor worthy of just how bland this song is.
Grade: D
Very much one of his more forgettable singles but not a station turner.
Agree with the sentiment of this review regarding this song. Not one of his best, but the production greatly makes up for it and makes it more memorable than it really should be lyrically.
Grade: B
Glad to see this series return. Hope all has been well for you Kevin!
While Tim would never match the quality of his three previous albums, he did manage to improve upon the disappointment of The Dancehall Doctors.
This single was yet another drab selection from this bland album.
Of all the #1 hits of 2000-09, this is probably the one I remember the least. I wouldn’t put it in my top 10, but it’s better than I remember and I have no real complaints. Solid B for me.
To me, it feels like the “Set This Circus Down” and “Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors” era left no long-term impact despite strong sales and airplay in the moment. I never hear songs like “Real Good Man” or “The Cowboy in Me” in the wild, and outside of this feature I can’t recall the last time I heard anyone even bring them up in conversation. I wonder what it is about this era that it didn’t hold on?
My theory is that “Wind” had such a short shelf life because of how huge “Live Like You Were Dying” was.
I agree. This single was forgettable. But wait for “Live like you were dying”. Amazing song and one of his very best!
I have honestly been balled up, struggling to decide how to respond to this single. My reticence is a result of my simply not being a fan of Tim McGraw. He does little to nothing for me as a listener. I know his significance, impact, and reach within country music, but none of it matters enough to change my opinion. I came close during the nineties feature to reconsidering him as an artist, but here we are and there is still no spark. I am indifferent to most of his music. Even his best songs don’t linger with me, and this is not one of his best songs.
I should listen to an entire album and allow the magic I am missing from the future Hall of Famer a chance to work on me. I just wish I got him.
You’re not alone on that, Peter. I respect McGraw’s overall legacy and impact, but he has just about a half-dozen singles across his full career that I’ll really go to bat for. Which puts him ahead of Kenny Chesney, at least.
I listen to Sirius’ Prime Country channel (all eighties and nineties) quite a bit, and of course they play alot of McGraw (and Chesney) and I don’t think I ever realized what a not particularly pleasant sounding singing voice McGraw actually has (maybe it’s just me?). Songs by him that I once like now fall on deaf ears; as a whole, I may like a few more of his singles than Jonathan, but not much more (ten maybe?). This one isn’t in that ten.
Speaking of Chesney, another thing I realized is that he and Toby Keith both have a “demarcation line” in their career where things became kinda unappealing for both–TK’s move to DreamWorks and How Do You Like Me Now? was the obvious pivot for him, and I think Chesney sorta lost the plot post his first Greatest Hits album (which, despite the presence of the odious She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy, still has all his, um, “best” singles, as it were) with No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem. I liked both those guys’ stuff prior to those respective benchmarks; after, not so much.
Well, you’re also saying that you liked them until they made the music that turned them into major stars. Toby was a mid-level act–below Garth and Cint and Vince and Alan and Tritt– in the mix with Chesnutt and Diffie and Kershaw and the Tracys, up until Dreamworks, and then he moved into arena star territory. I’m not saying you’re wrong for holding that opinion, but Toby clearly knew what he was doing.
I feel the same way about Chesney and Keith, and I think it’s a bit more complicated than it just being the music that made them superstars. For me, it was the transition into an era where the biggest acts went from being artists to being brands. The image overwhelmed the music, and it marked the beginning of the genre, being defined more by identity and image, than the music. It’s where country began to become very insular again as well.
Both of those acts remain 90s acts at the core, so they never lost that ability to deliver great material, even if a lot of of it ended up hidden on their albums and wasn’t sent to radio.
But the transition into bro country started with them, and really accelerated later in the decade. It made them a lot of money, and hey, they’re both in the Hall of Fame and rightfully so. I still think it cost them a big part of their legacies, as both should be remembered as fantastic artists, with Keith being in the league of the all-time greatest as a songwriter and singer. They’re both so much more than boot in the ass and no shirt, no shoes, no problems.
I think Keith would have put out some great late career albums, à la Haggard and Cash if he’d survived long enough to make music without one eye on country radio. I mourned that possibility surprisingly deeply when he passed away.
It’s funny because I thought despite some silly radio singles that Toby did but out some great albums. I still enjoy Clancy’s Tavern very much and during his huge commercial peak in the 2000’s I always thought his Lari White produced album was great.
For Chesney, I kind of disagree. I enjoy his 2000’s work more than his 90’s work. “When the Sun Goes Down” album has huge nostalgia vibes for me and is blurring my critical brain but there were a lot of great songs on that one.