Every #1 Single of the Nineties: Sawyer Brown, “Thank God For You”

“Thank God For You”

Sawyer Brown

Written by Mac McAnally and Mark Miller

Billboard

#1 (2 weeks)

September 4 – September 11, 1993

Radio & Records

#1 (1 week)

August 27, 1993

All of Sawyer Brown’s charm distilled into one record.

The Road to No. 1

Sawyer Brown followed the No. 1 hit “All These Years” with the top five hit “Trouble On the Line,” then moved on to a new studio album, which launched with another chart topping smash.

The No. 1

Oh, the awkward dance moves Mark Miller let loose in 1993.

He leaned into his goofball personality when performing this song live, and the music video should carry a seizure warning.

But it’s all in proper service to the song itself, which captures the self-effacing humor and everyman ethos of Sawyer Brown as well as anything that they’ve ever done.

Here was a band that had made the most improbable comeback, and they’d done it with smart and compelling material that bore no resemblance to their first wave of post-Star Search hits.

“Thank God For You” keeps the material at a high level of quality, but taps into a slightly older version of that wild and free attitude that got them feted by Ed McMahon back in the day.

It’s a humble expression of gratitude and a dismissal of credit for well-earned success, turning the spotlight on those outside the spotlight that have fueled their accomplishments, and it’s done without the excessive seriousness of a “Wind Beneath My Wings.”

It’s all of the band’s charm distilled into one record.

The Road From No. 1

Outskirts of Town produced two more top five hits with “The Boys and Me” and “Hard to Say,” teeing up their Greatest Hits 1990-1995 compilation which captured all of their nineties wave of hits to date.  The lead single from that set will be covered when we get to 1995.

“Thank God For You” gets an A.

Every No. 1 Single of the Nineties

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