"These Days" is a song written by

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 ...

Steve Robson Steve Robson is an English songwriter and record producer who has sold in excess of 138 million records around the world. He has written and produced 12 no 1 UK/US singles, 38 no 1 UK/US albums and a further 41 top 5 UK/US albums and singles. H ...

, and Danny Wells 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, ...

group

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cousi ...

. It was released in June 2002 as the first single from the band’s 2002 album '' Melt''. The song became their first number one hit on the U.S. ''

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 advertise ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks 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 ...

(now

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 in November 2002.

Content

This song is about a man who unexpectedly crosses paths with a former lover and they tell each other what has happened since they saw each other last. He tells her that since she has gone from his life, most of his time is spent thinking and dreaming about her.

Gary LeVox Gary LeVox (born Gary Wayne Vernon Jr., July 10, 1970) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for being the lead vocalist of the contemporary country music band Rascal Flatts, and his stage name was taken from the studio-console label ...

said of the song, "We knew this was a special song. We’d already completed the album but we dropped a song that we wrote to put this on our album."

Recording

After the completion of recording for ''Melt'', the band learned there was money in the recording budget for several more songs. They then recorded "

Love You Out Loud "Love You Out Loud" is a song written by Brett James and Lonnie Wilson and recorded by American country music group Rascal Flatts. It was released in January 2003 as the second single from the band’s 2002 album '' Melt''. The song peaked at num ...

" and "These Days" and being so impressed by the latter they replaced a song they wrote from the album with it.
archived page from rascalflatts.com from 2002

Chart performance

"These Days" debuted at number 48 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of June 29, 2002.

Year-end charts

References

2002 singles Rascal Flatts songs Songs written by Jeffrey Steele Songs written by Steve Robson Lyric Street Records singles Music videos directed by Deaton-Flanigen Productions Country ballads Song recordings produced by Mark Bright (record producer) Songs written by Danny Wells (songwriter) 2002 songs {{2000s-country-song-stub