"It's All in Your Head" is a 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, ...

group

Diamond Rio Diamond Rio is an American country music band. The band was founded in 1982 as an attraction for the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, and was originally known as the Grizzly River Boys, then the Tennessee River Boys. It was fou ...

. It was released in August 1996 as the third single from their album '' IV''. It peaked at number 15 in the United States, and number 17 in Canada. The song was written by

Van Stephenson Van Wesley Stephenson (November 4, 1953 – April 8, 2001) was an American singer-songwriter. He scored three US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 hits in the 1980s as a solo artist, and later became tenor vocalist in the country music band BlackHawk in ...

, who was then a member of the country music band

BlackHawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to: Animals * Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856 * Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus'' * Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii'' * Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus uru ...

, Tony Martin and Reese Wilson.

Content

The song describes a young male who has grown up suffering from the death of his parents. The boy's father was a preacher who anticipated an eventual apocalypse, and he died while having the spirit to take up a snake, and he was killed by it. The boy's father's last words to the boy were; "''We never walked on the moon, Elvis ain't dead, you ain't going crazy, it's all in your head''."

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price, of '' Billboard'' magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling the song "unique, with an infectious, swampy beat and intriguing lyric about a "sidewalk soapbox preacher" on an unusual path to salvation." She goes on to say that lead vocalist Marty Roe "tackles the lyric with a funky energy."'' Billboard'', August 24, 1996

Music video

The music video was directed by directing duo

Deaton-Flanigen Productions Deaton-Flanigen Productions is an American film company based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company was named after the surnames of founders Robert Deaton III and George Flanigen IV. The two have directed multiple music videos, primarily in the field ...

. It describes most of the content, and shows the boy (revealed to be known as Gordon Wallace-Poole) grown up being in a mental hospital.

Martin Sheen Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...

plays the father and his son

Ramon Estevez Ramón Luis Estévez (born August 7, 1963), sometimes billed as Ramón Sheen, is an American actor and director who runs Estevez Sheen Productions. Early life Estevez is the second of four children born to actor Martin Sheen and artist Janet T ...

as Gordon as an adult. This video also features

Melissa McBride Melissa Suzanne McBride (born May 23, 1965) is an American actress. Her breakout role was Carol Peletier on the AMC series '' The Walking Dead'' (2010–2022). She has garnered critical acclaim and received multiple awards and nominations for ...

who later went on to play the character of Carol on The Walking Dead.

Chart performance

"It's All in Your Head" debuted at number 70 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of August 24, 1996.

References

1996 singles 1995 songs Diamond Rio songs Songs written by Tony Martin (songwriter) Songs written by Van Stephenson Music videos directed by Deaton-Flanigen Productions Arista Nashville singles Songs written by Reese Wilson {{1996-country-song-stub