"What I Meant to Say" is a song written by

Sam Hogin Samuel Harper Hogin (March 6, 1950 – August 9, 2004) was a country music songwriter. Hogin was nominated for the Country Music Association's Song of the Year award in 1981 for "I Believe in You" (co-written with Roger Cook) and in 1998 f ...

, Jim McBride and

Don Cook Don Kirby Cook (born May 25, 1949) is an American record producer and songwriter whose work is mainly in the field of country music. Artists who recorded Cook's material include Barbara Mandrell, John Conlee, Mark Collie, Wade Hayes and Brooks & ...

, 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, ...

artist

Wade Hayes Tony Wade Hayes (born April 20, 1969) is an American country music artist. Signed to Columbia Records in 1994, he made his debut that year with his gold-certified album '' Old Enough to Know Better''. Its title track, which served as his debut ...

. It was released in October 1995 as the fourth and final single from Hayes' debut album ''

Old Enough to Know Better ''Old Enough to Know Better'' is the debut studio album by American country music artist Wade Hayes. Released in early 1995 on Columbia Records, it produced a Number One hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) ...

''. The song reached #5 on the ''

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 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 and #15 on the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' country singles chart. It even charted on the

Billboard Hot 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artis ...

, peaking at #116.

Content

The narrator realizes that he hurt his lover when he said he could walk out on her and regrets it deeply. In the chorus he tells her that he really meant to apologize and to tell her that he loves her.

Critical reception

Larry Flick, of ''

'' magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling it a "slow and pretty ballad." He goes on to say the song proves that "as good as Hayes sounds on uptempo, this ballad is further proof that he can slow it way down and still deliver the goods with warmth and style."''

'', October 28, 1995

Music video

The music video was directed by

Steven Goldmann Steven Harvey Goldmann (August 18, 1961 – April 30, 2015) was a Canadian music video and film director. He directed over 200 music videos. Goldmann also directed the movies ''Broken Bridges'' and ''Trailer Park of Terror'', and additionally ...

and shot completely in

sepia tone In photography, toning is a method of altering the color of black-and-white photographs. In analog photography, it is a chemical process carried out on metal salt-based prints, such as silver prints, iron-based prints (cyanotype or Van Dyke b ...

. The video begins with Wade sitting alone in a bar. As he gets up and goes outside everything and everybody starts going backwards as he walks back to his house. When he gets there, his lover is waiting there, crying after their fight. When he hugs her, time goes back to normal and they go inside.

Chart performance

"What I Meant to Say" debuted at number sixty-nine on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of October 28, 1995.

References

External links

Official music video
for "What I Meant to say" on CMT {{DEFAULTSORT:What I Meant To Say 1995 singles 1995 songs Wade Hayes songs Songs written by Don Cook Song recordings produced by Don Cook Columbia Records singles Music videos directed by Steven Goldmann Songs written by Jim McBride (songwriter) Songs written by Sam Hogin