"I Loved Her First" is the debut song 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, ...

band

Heartland Heartland or Heartlands may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Heartland Bank, a New Zealand-based financial institution * Heartland Inn, a chain of hotels based in Iowa, United States * Heartland Alliance, an anti-poverty organization i ...

. It was released in June 2006 as the first single title track from their debut studio album ''

I Loved Her First ''I Loved Her First'' is the only studio album by the American country music band Heartland. Issued in 2006, it includes the single "I Loved Her First", a number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts. Also released from this album were ...

'' (2006). The song reached Number One on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts in late 2006. The song was written by

Walt Aldridge James Walton Aldridge Jr. (born November 12, 1955 in Florence, Alabama) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, engineer and record producer. Aldridge is known primarily as a Nashville songwriter. He has written dozens of hit country son ...

and Elliott Park.

Content

The song is a mid-tempo ballad in

triple meter Triple metre (or Am. triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 ( compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with , , ...

. In it, the male narrator is talking to the man who is about to marry his daughter, telling him that he is having difficulty giving her away because he "loved her first." The song is a signature Father-Daughter song to dance to at wedding receptions for numerous brides and their fathers.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price, of '' Billboard'' magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling it a "beautifully written tearjerker that will hit home with dads everywhere who can't believe their little girls have grown up so soon." She calls Albert's performance "wonderful" and says that it "wrings every drop of emotion from the tender lyric."'' Billboard'', July 29, 2006

Music video

The music video was directed by Todd Schaffer and premiered in mid-2006. It features the group singing and a family at a wedding reception.

Chart performance

"I Loved Her First" debuted at number 57 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of July 8, 2006. Driven by a

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

of a father singing the ballad in sign language at his daughter's wedding, it reappeared on the chart almost nine years later at number 7 on the chart dated February 21, 2015. The song has sold over one million copies.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2006 songs 2006 debut singles Songs written by Walt Aldridge Heartland (band) songs Lofton Creek Records singles