“Humble and Kind”
Tim McGraw
Written by Lori McKenna
There are a lot of great songs about parents wishing their kids find happiness and success. Some, like “I Hope You Dance,” have even become standards.
But what I love most about “Humble and Kind” is that the parent isn’t wishing their child find success. It’s assumed that they will. What this parent wishes for their child surrounds how they handle their success: Be humble. Be kind. Say please. Say thank you.
And my personal favorite: Turn back around, and help the next person in line. The underlying message is that success is meaningless without service, and that goals aren’t worth achieving unless accompanied by gratitude.
It’s a beautiful coda to parenthood itself, hoping that the child who is your legacy leaves one of their own as well.
Tim McGraw delivers this Lori McKenna-penned tune with his usual dignity and grace, and the combination of their talents on this particular record is predictably powerful. Both the artist and songwriter have embodied these qualities throughout their distinguished careers, and though they’ve both been around a very long time, “Humble and Kind” deserves inclusion in any list of either’s greatest work.
Grade: A
Man this song is among Tim McGraw’s finest. The fact that he released it in 2016 is also great and given how well it’s been selling it’ll be a hit. Songs like this remind me that mainstream radio can be great and have substance as well.
Love this song.
I am not a big Tim fan, but yes, this is very good. It always amazes me when I see so many people who move up the ladder in their career and develop an attitude to go along with it instead of being nice to others. This is what country always was to me. A song to relate to.
2 beautiful songs, with meaning, back to back…Reba & Tim! Hope radio doesn’t let these songs die a slow death at the bottom of the chart in favor of hip hop passing as country music.
I commented on the Feb 14 Sunday Selections that “I’m happy to see that “Humble and Kind” debuted in the #36 position on the Media base survey for the week of February 15th. Hope it continues to move up.”
Since then it moved to #30 on Feb 22nd and now #24 on Feb 29th.