“I Couldn’t Leave You if I Tried”
Rodney Crowell
Written by Rodney Crowell
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
August 19, 1988
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
September 10, 1988
In an interview for one of his landmark albums from the 200s, Rodney Crowell made an astute observation of himself as a singer and a songwriter:
With ‘Fate’s Right Hand,’ I think I reached a level of completeness in forming and articulating ideas at around the same time I reached a place where I could match it with my singing voice. It was a kind of coming together.
It’s jarring to think that Crowell’s own sense of development as a singer is that it didn’t catch up with his songwriting until the 21st century. But there’s some truth to it, and it’s not a criticism of him as a singer. He was such a sophisticated songwriter out of the gate that only the very best singers – Emmylou Harris, Bob Seger, Crystal Gayle, and the like – were able to transform his songs into fully realized performances.
Now much like I’ll ding his ex-wife for talking down Rhythm & Romance, I’m going to call out Crowell here on excessive modesty. He’s a great singer on Diamonds & Dirt, and “I Couldn’t Leave You if I Tried” establishes that he can deliver his top notch material flawlessly by the time the first stanza is done:
The sun is coming up, and I’m just going downEverywhere I look, the world keeps turning ’roundThough I said I never would be satisfiedBut baby, I lied, I couldn’t leave you if I tried
His vocal is resigned, amused, and sincere all at once, expressing weakness and vulnerability, and ultimately finding strength through a newly committed fidelity to a relationship that he simply can’t leave behind. It’s an arrogant man checking himself as he matures into adulthood.
And it sounds so, so good. Tony Brown’s not usually associated with traditional country production, but you can hear how he’ll reinvigorate the George Strait sound down the road, and fans of Mark Chesnutt will also hear elements that previews what should’ve been his own Diamonds & Dirt moment on his one collaboration with Brown (1995’s Wings.)
Crowell’s run at the top was short but flawless.
“I Couldn’t Leave You if I Tried” gets an A.
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Easy A to all the single’s released from Diamonds & Dirt. I love the album but completely agree with the label’s choices of singles from the album. I think all the song’s are high quality but only think “Crazy Baby” might have had a shot to be a hit. I was surprised to see how Crowell didn’t think as highly of his performances on this album while I do think he made his best albums in the 2000’s I still regard it as a classic. I haven’t heard this song in forever but remember exactly how it goes from memory alone.
I was surprised to see this song coming as I had it in my head that “She’s Crazy for Leavin'” preceded “I Wouldn’t Leave You If I Tried”. Both are excellent songs that get a lot of recurrent airplay on the classic country radio station I listen to. It was likewise a mainstay on my childhood babysitter’s radio and I had a strong connection to it all the way back to when I was in the fourth grade. The lyrics, melody, and vocals all combine to make this a thoroughly enjoyable listen from the opening notes to the close. At any other time than the late 80s, it would have been highly unlikely that Crowell would have broken through the way he did, despite his lengthy tenure of songwriting success.
As a fiction writer, I can relate to looking back critically at one’s past work with age. Still, it’s annoying when it comes from veteran performers bad-mouthing the highly celebrated work from the prime of their career. I knew Rosanne Cash did that with my favorite album she ever recorded but I didn’t realize Rodney Crowell did it with “Diamonds and Dirt” as well. I’ve never seen Rodney in concert but I’m curious if he snubs his “D & D” hits at his modern live shows as Rosanne no longer performs her “R & R” hits in concert. Much as I love both of them, it’s malpractice.
Grade: A
if you look for a definition of catchy as hell – look no further.
3 years ago he was to be headlining gstaad country night 2021 (europe’s finest single night country event since 1989), but unfortunately had to cancel. what a show this could have been, since emmylou harris was the other legendary performer that night(s).
i remember johnny cash introducing him during his show at the marlboro country festival 1986 in zurich, switzerland, not only as his son in law, but as “one of the most talented in the business”. most of the 10.000 people in the audience looked at each other more than surprised at that moment. i remember it still clearly because i thought as well – who?, what? that perception changed for ever just a couple of years later.
Great song from a great album. A+
Cromwell’s run of chart toppers from this album was as important a part of ’80s country as was “Storms of Life” or the Class of 1989.
Crowell was probably the first radio artist I thought of as primarily a songwriter.
This particular song is as much a celebration of the amazing instrumentation as it is Crowell’s lyrics or vocals. Everything so so wonderfully twangy and bright, joyous even.
It’s a declaration of something.
The entire performance proudly smiles from ear to ear!