“Live Like You Were Dying”
Tim McGraw
Written by Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman
Radio & Records
#1 (11 weeks)
July 2 – September 10, 2004
Billboard
#1 (7 weeks)
July 17 – July 31, and August 14 – September 4, 2004
Tim McGraw’s ticket to the Country Music Hall of Fame had already been punched by the time this song came around, but if there was any lingering doubt about his status as an all-time great, “Live Like You Were Dying” ended the discussion with an exclamation point.
Yes, it’s a great song, and it’s tempting to suggest that it would’ve been even better in the hands of a more technically proficient singer. But technical proficiency only gets you so far. Mariah Carey had the multi octave range, but for my money, Madonna has always blown her out of the water as a singer because she can emote better on record.
I imagine a Gary Morris type vocalist tackling this and pushing it into over the top territory, making it more of a Hallmark anthem that robbed the song of its nuance, humor, and delicate dance with mortality. Tim McGraw’s performance has bravado at all the right moments, but the emotional wallop comes from the way he sings about “sweet time” with a longing for time that has an undercurrent of fear for what comes next.
I can’t think of another artist who could’ve walked that line better than McGraw. He was always one of my favorite artists, but this is the record where it felt the greatest sense of gratitude for his talent and appreciation for his contributions to the genre.
I heard it first like most 20 somethings probably did. I appreciated the aspirational message and the clever details that gave the record memorable specificity. Who else could sing about a bull named Fu Man Chu and pivot to giving “forgiveness I’ve been denying” in the same chorus without throwing off the song’s delicate balance?
But I truly understood the song only two years later, shortly after my father had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was a man a few words, and there were so many times when I was growing up, that music was the only way to fill the emotional space between us. In my teenage years, where that gap felt the widest, our common ground was always country music.
The last time that country music served that purpose was when we needed it the most. Shortly after his diagnosis, but before he was too sick from treatment to even watch CMT with me, the video for this song came on. I already knew he wasn’t going to get better. I think he did, too.
We both stared straight at the TV screen. We never looked at each other. For one last time, country music did the talking for us. I went in my room and cried, something I never did once in front of him while he was sick. To this day I wonder if he had the same sleepless night that I did after that shared experience.
Sometimes the feelings that are too big for words can only be captured in a song. “Live Like You Were Dying” is one of those records that proves that country music matters, and Tim McGraw’s performance of it solidified him as one of the all-time greats who I’m most grateful for.
“Live Like You Were Dying” gets an A.
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