"Everybody" is a song co-written and recorded by Australian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is an Australian-American musician, singer, guitarist and songwriter known for his work in country music. Recognized with four Grammy Awards, Urban also received fifteen Academy of Country Music Award ...

. It was released in September 2007 as the fourth and final single from his 2006 album ''

Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing ''Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing'' (stylized as Love, Pain & the whole crazy thing) is the fifth studio album by Australian country music singer Keith Urban. It is his fourth album release in the United States, and his fifth for Capitol Na ...

''. The song peaked at number 5 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts in early 2008. Urban wrote this song with

Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American adult contemporary music, adult contemporary and pop rock singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's Richard Marx (album), self-titled debut album went tri ...

Content

"Everybody" is a mid-tempo

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

that Urban co-wrote with

. In it, the male narrator addresses a female who is escaping her relationship ("And the only thing that you've ever known is to run") and tries asking her to stay ("Everybody needs somebody sometimes").

Critical reception

Jordan Levin and Howard Cohen of ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.

Music video

The music video was directed by

Chris Hicky Chris Hicky is a writer/director from Forrest City, Arkansas, United States, best known for directing many of Keith Urban's videos. Hicky has also directed videos for many other artists in the country music genre, including Dierks Bentley, Madd ...

, and premiered on CMT on September 22, 2007.

Personnel

As listed in liner notes. *Keith Urban – lead and backing vocals, lead guitar, acoustic guitar,

EBow The EBow, short for electronic bow or energy bow, is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It is manufactured by Heet Sound Products, of Los Angeles, California. It was invented by Greg Heet i ...

*Beth Beeson –

french horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

Tom Bukovac Tom Bukovac is an American session musician and producer. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in nearby Willowick, Ohio. He has been a Nashville-based musician since 1992. He previously owned 2nd Gear, a used music consignment shop in Sou ...

– rhythm guitar *

Eric Darken Eric A. Darken is an American percussionist, composer, and programmer. Biography Drawing inspiration from his grandfather, a band leader. Darken began playing drums at age 12, and played timpani and mallets in high school. Darken attended ...

– percussion *Erin Horner – french horn *

Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004, and 2016 at the Co ...

– rhythm guitar *

Chris McHugh Chris McHugh (born 1964) is an American musician. He began his career as the drummer of Christian rock band White Heart from 1986 to 1989. He also worked in the recording of several of their later albums. Chris McHugh is on the Nashville "A" li ...

– drums *Tim Lauer – piano,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

Jimmie Lee Sloas Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass guitar. History Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the p ...

– bass guitar *Joy Worland – french horn String section *Carl Gorodetzky, Pam Sixfin, Conni Ellisor, Alan Umstead, David Davidson, Cathy Umstead, Cate Myer, Karen Winkelmann, Mary Kathryn Vanosdale, David Angell –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

s *Kris Wilkinson, Monisa Angell, Gary Vanosdale –

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

s *Larry Corbett, Carole Rabinowitz, Anthony LaMarchina –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

Chart positions

Year-end charts

Cover versions

Richard Marx version

would later record his own version of the song and release it as the lead single from the European edition of his album '' Stories To Tell''.

References

{{authority control 2007 singles Keith Urban songs Richard Marx songs Songs written by Richard Marx Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Songs written by Keith Urban Capitol Records Nashville singles Music videos directed by Chris Hicky 2006 songs Country ballads