"Sometimes She Forgets" is a song written by

Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Initially working in the country music g ...

, who recorded it on his 1995 ''

Train a Comin' ''Train a Comin is the fifth studio album by Steve Earle (his first in five years), released in 1995. In addition to Earle, it features Peter Rowan, Norman Blake (American musician), Norman Blake, Roy Huskey, and Emmylou Harris. The album was nom ...

'' album. The highest-charting version of the song was 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, o ...

artist

Travis Tritt James Travis Tritt (born February 9, 1963) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 20 ...

, and was released in August 1995 as the lead-off single from his compilation album '' Greatest Hits: From the Beginning''. It peaked at number 7 in the United States, and at number 6 in Canada.

Background

In the liner notes from his acoustic album ''

'', Earle indicates that he wrote the song in 1979. At that time, he was a staff writer in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

, before he had a recording contract. Earle did not record the song on his first four studio albums, but an early version was included on a set of demos, ''Uncut Gems'', in the early 1990s. Earle's management circulated the demos to other artists when Earle's career was threatened by his drug use and he had been dropped from his label. This resulted in Tritt covering the song, as well as recordings of lesser-known versions by

Martin Delray Michael Ray Martin (born September 29, 1949, in Texarkana, Arkansas) is an American country music artist, known professionally as Martin Delray. He worked as a songwriter in the 1980s, with his writing credits including "Old Fashioned Love" by ...

(1992) and

Stacy Dean Campbell ''For the American policy advisor, see Stacy Dean.'' Stacy Dean Campbell (born July 27, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter, author, and TV host. Life and career Campbell's father was a gospel singer, touring with many notable quartets a ...

(1995). After getting sober in 1994, Earle recorded the song, as well as some of his other early work, on ''Train a Comin, released on February 28, 1995.

Travis Tritt version

Tritt has described his version as a departure from his usual style. He told ''Billboard'' magazine that he and co-producer Gregg Brown cut the song with a little different flavor. "It's got a different feel from anything you've heard from me in a long time, maybe ever. The way we cut this song reminds me almost of a ' Tequila Sunrise'-type thing", Tritt said, referring to the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large Bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Ou ...

song. "It's got a real good rhythm, almost a calypso kind of thing in there." Deborah Evans Price of ''Billboard'' reviewed the song favorably, saying that it has an "intriguing calypso flavor that plays appealingly against the solid country lyric." She went on to say that Tritt's strongest asset is his vocal and he delivers the song with "heartfelt authority".''

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 advertis ...

'', August 12, 1995 Tritt's music video was directed by Michael Merriman and features a view of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. It peaked at number 1 on CMT's ''Top 12 Countdown'' (now CMT's Top 20 Countdown) in 1995.

Chart positions

Tritt's version of "Sometimes She Forgets" debuted at number 63 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of August 19, 1995. Tritt's version charted in the U.S. and Canada.

References

{{Travis Tritt singles 1995 songs Steve Earle songs Travis Tritt songs 1995 singles Songs written by Steve Earle Warner Records singles