“Lord, I Hope This Day is Good”
Don Williams
Written by Dave Hanner
Radio & Records
#1 (2 weeks)
January 22 – January 29, 1982
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
February 27, 1982
As has been noted before in this feature, Don Williams enjoyed great longevity on country radio simply by tastefully recording excellent songs.
The last time we saw him, it was with his biggest overall hit, “I Believe in You.” Williams followed that classic with the top ten hit “Falling Again” and the top five hit “Miracles.” A poignant praye returned him to the top.
“Lord, I Hope This Day is Good” is a Christian song for the quiet believer, one who sits in the back row of the church and lives his life humbly. His request to God isn’t for fame and fortune. Just a good enough day to make him feel that the Lord hasn’t forgotten about him completely.
After all, that “may be hard for the devil to do, but it would be easy for you,” he prays.
It’s the perfect meditation for any of us “feeling empty and misunderstood.”
Williams kept the momentum going at radio, and we’ll see him again with his next single.
“Lord, I Hope This Day is Good” gets an A.
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I am pretty sure I reference this song’s lyric more frequently in my personal daily prayers than I do any biblical passages.
Williams had such a quiet confidence and gift for performing lyrical conversations.
It’s hard to believe that in the day Williams was criticized as often as not for being slow and laconic. He was faulted for having one speed: boring.
The admiration for just how carefully cultivated that signature style and sound was with his producer Garth Fundis would come later in his career..
I remember thinking Keith Urban over-sold how important William’s was to his musical development, but when I heard him describe ” “that kind of strong downbeat, backbeat and little in-between rhythmic thing,” I believed him. Urban would also share that the records he grew up with were Don Williams records because his father bought nearly every release.
This single is charming and observational slice of life performed to perfection.
The early eighties has not wanted for classic music and Don Williams can claim a couple of them for himself.