“In a Letter to You”
Eddy Raven
Written by Dennis Linde
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
June 23, 1989
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
July 15, 1989
Eddy Raven changed labels at the end of the decade, but what remained consistent was the high caliber of his material and his performances.
“In a Letter to You” is an especially fun number. The whimsical song was written by Dennis Linde, and it’s a fresh take on the old trope about words not being enough to describe love.
Here, our protagonist gives up on trying to say I love you in writing, and instead contemplates the beauty around him and promises to send those in a letter instead:
I took the mornin’ sun peekin’ through the treesAnd the dandelion silk tangled in the breezeI folded ’em up, sealed ’em with a kissIt’s the kind of letter that you can’t resist
As on earlier records, Raven again proves a deft singer, navigating a complicated lyric with remarkable ease. Sure, the production is a little old fashioned even for 1989, but how cool is it that Raven is a one man early eighties Oak Ridge Boys on this record? This could be presented as a lost hit from Fancy Free and nobody would question it.
Raven has another number one on deck before the decade closes.
“In a Letter to You” gets a B+.
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Bummer to see no original recordings of this song are available on You Tube. I may have to invest in an Eddy Raven Greatest Hits CD one day. Anyway, Raven brings his trademark high energy to this recording along with a distinctive sound, even if the production isn’t quite up to what was becoming new Nashville standard. Lyrically, I always found this song to be more corny than clever but Raven’s charm mostly pulls it off. I’m grateful my local country station gave him recurrent airplay 15 years after his hitmaking years ended, giving me some measure of nostalgia for Raven’s eclectic string of late 80s chart toppers.
Grade: B
I love the comparison of Raven’s sound on this hit to the Oak Ridge Boys’ “Fancy Free” album.
I didn’t know Dennis Linde wrote this song.
Raven remains one of the decade’s most exciting stars to rediscover. He exudes such a generous spirit of fun.