"My Heart Can't Tell You No" is a song written by

Simon Climie Simon Climie (born 7 April 1957) is an English songwriter/producer and the former lead singer of the UK duo Climie Fisher. Biography Climie was born in London. Beginning his career primarily as a songwriter/session musician, Climie found him ...

and Dennis Morgan. It was first recorded and released by British

pop-rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and ...

artist

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

on his 1988 album '' Out of Order''. Originally intended as a song for country artist

Barbara Mandrell Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful music artist ...

, Stewart ultimately claimed the song for himself. It was later covered in 2011 by American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

artist

Sara Evans Sara Lynn Evans (; born February 5, 1971) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is also credited as a record producer, actress, and author. She had five songs reach the number one spot on the '' Billboard'' country songs ch ...

and released as the second single from her sixth studio album, '' Stronger''.

Rod Stewart version

"My Heart Can't Tell You No" was a Top 5 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

charts, eventually reaching 4 and 3, respectively, in 1989. It was the highest-charting single from the album. In the United Kingdom, the song reached a peak position of 49, becoming his second Top 50 single from ''Out of Order''. A music video was also produced and released for the single. In some releases of the single and the album, the song was incorrectly identified as "My Heart Can't Tell Me No".

Critical reception

Jon Grein of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' called the song "obviously commercial". ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it "an appealing mid-tempo tune" and praised Stewart's vocal performance and the

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

. Robin Smith of ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

'' described it as "one of those infectious singalong ballads he's always done so well".

Chart positions

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sara Evans version

Critical reception

Jon Caramanica of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called Evans' version of the song a "gentle, regretful cover". Giving it four stars out of five, Bobby Peacock of Roughstock called it a "worthwhile cover" and described the production positively, although he thought that the lyrics were "slightly cluttered and underfocused". Kevin John Coyne, reviewing the song for Country Universe, gave it a D rating, calling it "watery,

country-pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...

claptrap."

Reception

The video for "My Heart Can't Tell You No" was nominated for Female Video of the Year at the 2012

CMT Music Awards The CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances. The awards ceremony is held every year in Nashville, Tennessee, and broadcast live on the CMT (Country Music Television) channel. Voting takes p ...

Chart positions

"My Heart Can't Tell You No" debuted at number 54 on the ''Billboard''

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 ...

chart for the week dated June 18, 2011. It reached a peak position of 21 on the chart dated January 28, 2012. The song did not enter the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, but did peak at number 5 on the

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

extension chart.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1988 singles 2011 singles Rod Stewart songs Sara Evans songs Song recordings produced by Tony Brown (record producer) Songs written by Dennis Morgan (songwriter) Songs written by Simon Climie Music videos directed by Peter Zavadil Warner Records singles RCA Records singles Music videos directed by Russell Mulcahy 1988 songs