"Nineteen" is a song written by

Tom Hambridge Thomas Jay Hambridge (born December 20, 1960) is an American rock, country, and blues, producer, songwriter, musician and vocalist. Hambridge has received two Grammy Awards, an ASCAP award, seven Grammy nominations, seven Boston Music Awards, a ...

Jeffrey Steele Jeffrey LeVasseur (born August 27, 1961), known as Jeffrey Steele, is an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with recording his own material, Steele has become a prolific Nashville songwriter, having co-written more than 60 hit ...

, and Gary Nicholson. The song was originally recorded by the country music duo Waycross, whose version peaked at number 54 on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart in July 2007.

Taylor Hicks Taylor Reuben Hicks (born October 7, 1976) is an American singer who won the fifth season of ''American Idol'' in May 2006. Hicks got his start as a professional musician in his late teens and performed around the Southeastern United States fo ...

later recorded the song on his 2009 album '' The Distance'', although his version of the song was not released as a single. It was then recorded by

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, ...

singer

Billy Ray Cyrus Billy Ray Cyrus (born August 25, 1961) is an American country singer and actor. He has released 16 studio albums and 53 singles since 1992, and is known for his hit single "Achy Breaky Heart", which topped the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart and ...

, on his album '' I'm American'', which was released on June 28, 2011. Cyrus' version of the song was released as the album's second single on September 26, 2011. Clayton Bellamy also recorded it on his 2012 album '' Everyone's a Dreamer''.

Content

"Nineteen" tells the story of a high school football standout, who turns down the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

to serve in the

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

after watching the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

Reception

Critical

Taste of Country positively reviewed the song, rating it 4 stars out of five. The reviewer, Billy Dukes, comments on how many times the song has been recorded, but mentions that the song deserves the attention of the mainstream country audience.

Commercial

The song debuted at number 58 on the US '' Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart for the week ending October 8, 2011. It is Cyrus' first chart entry since "A Good Day" peaked at number 59 on the country chart in September 2009.

Chart performance

Waycross

Billy Ray Cyrus

References

{{authority control Songs about teenagers Songs about the military Music about the September 11 attacks 2007 singles 2007 songs 2011 singles Taylor Hicks songs Billy Ray Cyrus songs Songs written by Jeffrey Steele Song recordings produced by Buddy Cannon Songs written by Tom Hambridge Songs written by Gary Nicholson Walt Disney Records singles