“When You Say Nothing at All”
Keith Whitley
Written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
November 25, 1988
Billboard
#1 (2 weeks)
December 24 – December 31, 1988
Of the three classic singles released in succession from Don’t Close Your Eyes, “When You Say Nothing at All” has enjoyed the most enduring legacy.
Whitley’s the perfect singer for this tribute to those who can show us that they love us without saying a word. There’s a hushed intimacy to the verses, and just the right amount of emotional release in the chorus. It would go against the spirit of the lyric to let loose too much, and his admirable restraint heightens the impact of the song’s message.
A Keith Whitley tribute album included a cover of “When You Say Nothing at All” that launched Alison Krauss & Union Station into stardom and won the 1995 CMA Award for Single of the Year, introducing the song to a new batch of fans. Then in 1996, Irish singer Frances Black took the song to the top ten in his home country. Ronan Keating of Boyzone heard this version, and covered the song himself when he launched his solo career in 1999. This was ultimately the most commercially successful version of the song, becoming a worldwide hit that topped the pop charts in the U.K., Ireland, and Scotland, while going top ten in most of Europe and Australasia.
All of those records owe a debt to the Whitley original, as each successive version has resisted the impulse to make a sentimental song into a sappy record. Whitley’s heartfelt and dignified performance still resonates after all this years.
“When You Say Nothing at All” gets an A .
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This is a well-constructed song that a talented (and careful) singer can make their own. While I still like Whitley’s rendition best of all the versions I’ve heard (he has the most soulful voice), I have heard the other three versions you referenced and they are all very good.
Someone put together a Whitley-Krausse duet and it is very good
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=keith+whitley+alison+krauss+when+you+say&mid=027F51C7A3D4966481C4027F51C7A3D4966481C4&FORM=VIRE
It’s always interesting to me how singers who sometimes struggle to break through early in their careers will get their hands on the perfect batch of songs for a given project and catapult themselves to commercial success with a cluster of big hits, sometimes after several years of floundering to some degree or another. There are few examples more reflective of this scenario than Keith Whitley, who managed to deliver two singles in a row that would both be career records individually for pretty much any other artist. Unfortunately, Whitley wouldn’t get very long at all to commemorate his accomplishment. Now I will say that my favorite version of this song was from Alison Krauss, but I think that’s primarily my bias for female vocal interpretations of emotionally charged songs. Whitley’s version is outstanding though, and as you said, set the tone for future interpretations. Also hats off to Paul Overstreet. I didn’t realize he had written so many iconic songs.
I only became aware of the Ronan Keating version of this song a couple of years ago when my girlfriend was forwarding me songs some of her favorite songs. It’s a solid cover for a pop audience. I told her it was originally a country song and played both the Whitley and Krauss versions for her. Having grown up internationally, she hadn’t heard either of them and was exposed to very little country music.
Grade: A
Probably my favorite love song ever. I think I give the edge to Whitley on my favorite performance, but I adore the Alison Krauss rendition as well. Honestly, I don’t even mind the Ronan Keating version either.
To Mark’s point about Paul Overstreet, he really needs to be inducted into the HOF as a songwriter. What a tremendous catalogue of songs that more than make up for She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy ;)
This is one of my favourite songs. I have heard the Ronan Keating version most – he’s one of my favourite singers, both solo and with Boyzone, but I first heard the Allison Krauss version and have heard Keith’s and also a wonderful cover by Randy Travis (not sure where it was from). Beautiful song whoever sings it and I couldn’t pick a single favourite.
A great song. So many from Keith have become classics and we’ll be hearing my favorite soon.
Despite the sudden flip to a younger generation of country stars, Whitley once again announced that new country is still music for adults. This song oozes a lived-in wisdom, and a rumpled confidence, in the comfort genuine trust brings to the strongest relationships.
He took a young listener like me to school about what being in love might feel and sound like.
To boot, the crazy vocals dynamics of the opening line “It’s amazing how you can speak right to my heart” and later when he sings “All Day long I can hear people talking out loud” puts George Jones, Vern Gosdin, and Randy Travis on notice that there was a new generational vocalist in Nashville.
Nobody has any right to simultaneously sound this timeless and contemporary!
How did any of us keep up with all this amazing music from this era?