"I Love You This Much" is a song co-written and recorded by American

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

Jimmy Wayne Jimmy Wayne Barber (born October 23, 1972) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He released his self-titled debut album in 2003 on the DreamWorks Records label. Four singles were released from it, including "Stay Gone" and " I L ...

. It was released in August 2003 as the second single from his self-titled album, reaching a peak of #6 on the U.S. country charts and #53 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was written by Wayne, Don Sampson and

Chris DuBois Charles Christopher DuBois is a songwriter and music publisher based out of Nashville, Tennessee. DuBois began his music career as ASCAP Nashville Director of Membership in 1993. He left ASCAP in 1999 to form Sea Gayle Music with business partne ...

Content

The song is a

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 tells of a young man's attempts to express his love to his father, despite the father's constant distance from his son. Later, the man grows to hate his father for being so unresponsive, eventually cursing his father upon the father's death. Later, at the funeral service for his father, the man sees an image of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

on the cross; this image then reminds the man that he "hadn't been unloved or alone all his life".

Music video

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was released for the song, directed by

Trey Fanjoy Trey Fanjoy is an American music video director. Fanjoy has directed over 150 major label music videos. Her videos have appeared on CMT, VH1, GAC, The Nashville Network, CMT Canada, and MTV. She is the first woman to win the Country Music Asso ...

. The video follows the song's lyrics, beginning with a little boy standing in the yard as his father drives up. Then, the video shifts to a funeral, where Wayne is shown singing while he stands beside the casket.

Chart performance

The song debuted at 53 on the

Hot Country Singles & Tracks 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 ...

tracks chart dated August 23, 2003.

Year-end charts

References

2003 singles Jimmy Wayne songs Song recordings produced by James Stroud Music videos directed by Trey Fanjoy Country ballads DreamWorks Records singles Songs written by Chris DuBois Songs written by Don Sampson Song recordings produced by Chris Lindsey 2003 songs Songs written by Jimmy Wayne {{2000s-country-song-stub