“It Must Be Love”
Alan Jackson
Written by Bob McDill
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
September 8, 2000
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
September 9, 2000
There’s an irony in the big CMA Awards drama being what’s most closely associated with Under the Influence, Alan Jackson’s covers project from 1999.
When he stormed off the Grand Ole Opry stage after pivoting from “Pop a Top” to “Choices,” he made a bold statement. But on the project itself, Jackson revealed just where his understated approach came from.
Jackson was mostly a quiet public figure, and for all his association with George Jones, it’s easy to hear that Don Williams was a much bigger influence on his approach to material. There’s a quiet dignity to the Williams way, and Jackson wrote himself the kinds of songs that Williams would deliver.
You do hear him pushing up against the limits of the Williams template here. Jackson is too expressive a vocalist to be completely understated in the studio, and he struggles a bit on the verses to keep with the rhythm while also putting some feeling into each line.
But I hear his influences on this cover more than on any of his other hit remakes from over the years.
“It Must Be Love” gets a B+.
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While I never heard Alan cite Don Williams as an influence until I read the booklet accompanying this album, it always seemed to me that Alan’s style owed more than a little to Don Williams. I always liked this song whether by Don Williams in 1979 or Alan Jackson in 2000, but I must admit that it was not my favorite cover from this album. Concur with the B+
I agree with the B+. Both the Don and Alan versions are very good.
I like this version better than Don William’s version, I must admit. It has a brighter, crisper sound, which gives it more energy than Williams’ version, which I appreciate.
I was lukewarm at best about this phase of Alan Jackson’s career when he was putting his fingerprints all over everybody else’s material and redefining it as his own. Sometimes it worked well as it did with his “Pop a Top” cover, which really leaned into Alan’s strengths and, well, popped. Sometimes it worked badly as it did with his lifeless cover of “Who’s Cheatin’ Who?”, smothering all of the personality from Charly McClain’s distinctive original and effectively wiping out its legacy. And other times it worked out just okay as it did here.
“It Must Be Love” wasn’t in my top tier of Don Williams’ favorites but I still preferred the Williams version. Jackson does a decent job on it but doesn’t give the listener a compelling reason why it needs to exist, at least as a #1 on the charts. If a Don Williams cover deserved to go to the top of the charts in 2000, I’d have much preferred Lee Ann Womack’s version of “Lord, I Hope This Day is Good”.
For a songwriter as talented as Alan Jackson, it felt like a pointless cruise control phase of his career to flood the zone with covers. Thankfully, he’d get his mojo back soon thereafter with a string of songs worthy of his 90s heyday.
Grade: B-
I really enjoyed Alan Jackson’s covers album. I love Don Williams. He’s probably my third or fourth favorite artist. But I do think AJ does this song just a tad bit better. Early Jackson might not have always shown the Don Williams influences, but they’re definitely present in his later years. When Somebody Loves You, Remember When, even his cover of Thank God for the Radio feel like Don Williams songs.
As for the album, my favorites are Pop a Top, She Just Started Liking Cheating Songs, My Own Kind of Hat, and The Blues Man.
Is “It Must Be Love” the catchiest country song ever? I think it might be.
I don’t mean that in a bad way.
It’s pretty neat looking back and seeing that while this was definitely an era of crossover/pop country, there was also still room on the radio for more traditional sounds, as well. After the last four number ones of the year 2000 being pop country/crossover hits it’s cool to see that a Don Williams cover by one of the most traditional leaning artists of the past decade was still able to go to number one, as well, and also become a steady recurrent hit after its chart run was over. While a cover of a late 70s song, this fit right in with the other happy, breezy songs that were on the radio during the Spring and Summer of 2000.
Before hearing AJ’s version of “It Must Be Love” I remember liking Don Williams’ version when I was little in the early 90s, both on the radio and on one of my parents’ mixed cassette tapes. In early 1998, after my dad had picked me up from middle school one day, I remember hearing the Williams’ version again on the radio out of the blue and being so pleasantly surprised to hear it again, because it had been such a long time since I’d heard it, and it really took me back. So it was pretty neat that a couple years later one night in my bedroom before falling asleep, I’d suddenly hear Alan Jackson singing a brand new version of it on the radio by my bed. Of course, I figured it had to have been on that Under The Influence CD since this was yet another cover of an older song he was coming out with (which I didn’t mind and thought was a neat concept then). After that, this song was pretty much ALWAYS on the radio. We heard it quite a few times on those York and Lancaster, PA trips during the Summer of 2000. The “fall like a sparrow, fly like a dove” line would always remind me of the sparrows and mourning doves that would always be coming to our house because my mom always loved feeding the birds and squirrels around that time. Also during the time the song was popular, I saw an issue of Country Weekly at Walmart with Alan and his wife on the cover saying “It Must Be Love!” which I actually have a copy of.
I pretty much like both versions of the song about the same, though the Don Williams version tends to get the edge for me during the Fall and Winter due to its more cozy feel and more mellow arrangement. I’ve always liked the unique beat/percussion throughout the Williams version, as well. Jackson’s version, on the other hand, definitely has a brighter and more summery vibe that makes it a perfect fit during the warmer months (though honestly it’s good all year round). Jackson’s version is also more timeless sounding, imo, due to it’s more updated production style and straightforward traditional country approach. This could come on the radio today and not sound dated at all.
I also agree with CJ about Jackson showing more of his Don Williams influence later on in his career. Early Alan Jackson, such as his first three albums, I’d say was more influenced by George Jones. Songs like “Tonight I Climbed The Wall,” “Here In The Real World,” “Wanted,” “Someday,” etc. and album cuts like “That’s All I Need To Know” definitely have a Jones influence to my ears. But starting with the Who I Am album, his voice got noticeably deeper, and he started doing more ballads that resembled Don Williams more than Jones. “You Can’t Give Up On Love” is another one from Who I Am that sounds like a Don Williams song, as does many cuts on 1998’s High Mileage, especially “Amarillo” and “What A Day Yesterday Was.”
Either version of “A Woman’s Love” feels very Don Williams-y to me, too.
And I agree, “Amarillo” was another winner.
To me, this song’s very existence completely negates the “they don’t play REAL country music anymore” argument presented in “Murder on Music Row”.
I found the Under the Influence album pretty strong, except for the pointless cover of “Margaritaville”. I admit I wasn’t a big Don Williams fan at first, but as he grew on me, I also began to see how his style was evident in other artists such as Alan Jackson. He did a good job, in my opinion, of changing just enough from the original to highlight both the similarities and differences between his style and Don’s. Sometimes cover songs bother me by being either too slavishly similar (Trick Pony’s version of “It’s a Heartache”) or too jarringly different to be recognizable (Patty Loveless’s version of “Lovin’ All Night”), but this one is just right.
I love Patty Loveless’ version of “Lovin’ All Night.”
I would like to point to Alan’s interpretations of “The Way I Am” and “Right in the Palm of Your Hand” for introducing me to Mel McDaniel and Merle Haggard. I would argue that “The Way I Am” is a song that is almost impossible to mess up.
I still can’t believe “Right in the Palm of Your Hand” isn’t regarded as one of the smartest country songs about relationships. Says it all in minutes. What a terrific writer Bob McDill was.
I also love “Right In The Palm Of Your Hand.”
I have to agree with you about “Right In The Palm Of Your Hand”. I first discovered it as recorded by Crystal Gayle, and it hit me as an amazing relationship song. It is just one of the most well written songs I have ever heard. I also love Alan’s version.
I am really enjoying seeing how much respect and admiration The Gentle Giant is receiving along with the implicit recognition of how influential he was as an artist. In his day, critics were largely undecided as to his importance and significance; was he a folkie? A literate country singer? A pop-country star? I remember the drama when Don Williams was featured on the cover of “No Depression” magazine in 1999. The hipsters were having a moment.
As huge a fan I am of Alan Jackson, I may still be a bigger fan of Don Williams. Accordingly, I cast my lot with his original version for no real reason other than just because.
I was disappointed when Ken Burns didn’t mention Don Williams at all in the “Country Music” miniseries. Great rainy Sunday afternoon pastime for me to put on Don’s 40-song “Gold” anthology two-CD set.
Ken Burns missed a lot of significant artists Jim Reeves, Glen Campbell and Conway Twitty were probably the biggest oversights but there were many more.
Definitely. Thanks for the link. Hadn’t read this article before.