"She Thinks His Name Was John" is a song written by Sandy Knox and Steve Rosen, and 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, ...

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Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music singer and actress. Dubbed " the Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 single ...

. It was released in July 1994 as the second single from her album '' Read My Mind''. Upon its release, the song gained media attention and controversy for its storyline, regarding a woman who was dying from

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

Content

"She Thinks His Name Was John" tells the story of a woman who is dying from AIDS, which she acquired after becoming intoxicated and having a

one-night stand A one-night stand or one-night sex is a single sexual encounter in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single ...

with a man whom she did not previously know. The song recounts how, upon learning she has contracted AIDS, she struggles to remember the man with whom she had her affair; she cries herself to sleep over dreams and life's milestones she will never experience, (such as marriage and motherhood); and how former friends pity her because of the decision that led to her illness. Sandy Knox, one of the song's writers, was inspired to write "She Thinks His Name Was John" after losing her brother to the disease. The song was released as a single after several radio stations began playing it as an album cut.

Chart performance

References

1994 singles 1994 songs Reba McEntire songs Song recordings produced by Tony Brown (record producer) Country ballads MCA Records singles Songs about HIV/AIDS {{1994-country-song-stub