Alan Jackson is a gifted singer, but he’s also a gifted songwriter. Jackson writes most of his hits, and has since his debut Here In The Real World album came out in 1990. While Jackson has written far too many hits to mention, we found three Alan Jackson songs that prove he is one talented songwriter.
“Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)”
An entire nation was grieving in the fall of 2001, after the terrorist attacks on the United States of America. Jackson eloquently put words to the country’s collective sorrow in “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)“.
The song says, “Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke / Rising against that blue sky? / Did you shout out in anger in fear for your neighbor / Or did you just sit down and cry?”
Jackson performed the song for the first time at the CMA Awards that year.
“Those verses were just straight out of my mind,” Jackson tells Yahoo! Entertainment. “All those visual images I’d had watching the news, all the stories about how people were dealing with it. And there it was.”
“Remember When”
“Remember When” came out in 2003 as an ode to his wife, Denise, who appears in the video, along with footage of their family.
The song says in part, “Remember when / Old ones died and the new were born / And life was changed, disassembled, rearranged / We came together, fell apart / And broke each other’s hearts / Remember when.”
“Denise and I met as kids, and all that’s true,” Jackson explains on social media. “And most of that is just reflections of our life, and some of it looking ahead.”
“Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow”
Jackson wrote “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow” with Jim McBride, releasing it in 1990 on his freshman album. The feel-good, catchy song is about a young man who dreams of a career in country music, one that is largely autobiographical for Jackson.
“Singing in the bars and chasing that neon rainbow / Living that honky-tonk dream,” Jackson sings. “‘Cause all I’ve ever wanted is to pick this guitar and sing / Just trying to be somebody / Just wanna be heard and seen / I’m chasing that neon rainbow / Living that honky-tonk dream.”
“Alan started telling me about how he had this old Dodge van,” McBride recounts to The Boot. “He would drive down to Florida for shows and play five or six sets a night. By the time he paid the band and bought gas, he wouldn’t make anything. Then he’d go to Arkansas the next weekend and do the same thing. He was whining that he couldn’t get a record deal, but other people would get off the bus and come down on Music Row and get a deal.”
