"If You're Reading This" is a song performed 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, o ...

artist

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those albu ...

. The song was first performed at the Academy of Country Music (ACM) awards, which were held in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

and aired May 15, 2007 on CBS. Shortly after McGraw's live performance, several radio stations began playing a telecast of the song, boosting it to a debut at number 35 on the ''

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 advertis ...

'' Hot Country Songs charts from unsolicited airplay. A remixed version of the live recording was later released to radio as a single, overlapping Tim's then-current single, "

I Need You I Need You or I Need U may refer to: Films * ''I Need You'' (film), a 1944 German film Music Albums * ''I Need You'' (album), by LeAnn Rimes, 2001 * ''I Need You'' (Bestie EP) (reissue of ''Hot Baby'') or the title song, 2014 * ''I Need Y ...

", a duet with wife

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer and actress. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. Hill ...

. In October 2007, "If You're Reading This" reached a peak of number 3 on the ''Billboard'' country charts, becoming McGraw's forty-second Top Ten country hit overall. The song also peaked at number 41 on the '' ''Billboard'' Hot 100''.

About the song

"If You're Reading This" is a tribute to the families of soldiers who have died. Its lyrics take the form of a letter written from a soldier to his family — a letter that is intended to be sent only if the soldier dies ("If you're reading this / I'm already home"). McGraw co-wrote the song, with Brad and Brett Warren of country duo

The Warren Brothers The Warren Brothers are an American country music duo composed of brothers Brett Warren (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica, mandolin, piano) and Brad Warren (background vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar). The duo has released three ...

, approximately three weeks before the ACM awards aired. The three were inspired by reading a magazine article on war casualties. When McGraw performed the song at the ACM awards show, one hundred relatives of soldiers joined him onstage, under a banner that read "Families of Fallen Heroes". After performing the song, he received a standing ovation.

Chart performance

Despite the lack of a studio recording, the song received airplay on country radio after several stations began playing the CBS telecast of McGraw's live performance. As a result, it entered ''

s Hot Country Songs chart at number 35. Scott Siman, McGraw's manager, had been working with both the label (

Curb Records Curb Records (also known as Asylum-Curb and formerly known as MCG Curb) is an American record label started by Mike Curb, originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963. From 1969 to 1973, Curb merged with MGM Records where Curb served as President of M ...

) and radio stations to "address the fact that we don't have a studio recorded version of this song". A remixed version (with most of the audience noise removed, except for applause at the end) was released to radio in June 2007, while McGraw's then-current single "I Need You" (a Faith Hill duet) was also climbing the charts. This remix was added to later presses of his then current album ''

Let It Go "Let It Go" is a song from Disney's 2013 computer-animated feature film '' Frozen'', whose music and lyrics were composed by husband-and-wife songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. The song was performed in its original show- ...

'', and Curb began promoting the song as a single in place of "I Need You". "If You're Reading This" is the second song in McGraw's career that has charted from a live performance. In 2001, "unknown fans" taped McGraw's performance of the song "Things Change" during the

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awards, and posted the recording to

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; as a result, several stations downloaded and played the live telecast of that song.

Chart positions

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2007 singles 2007 songs Tim McGraw songs Songs written by Tim McGraw Songs written by the Warren Brothers Song recordings produced by Byron Gallimore Song recordings produced by Tim McGraw Curb Records singles Country ballads