George Strait

1985 | Peak: #5

More cocky than clever, the strained metaphor that gives structure to the song errs too far on the side of ridiculous.

Sometimes it’s a bit bewildering to differentiate the classic Strait singles from the forgotten ones.

What made this one so special? Well, it has a great opening line, for one thing. A more confident vocal and a Texas-centric focus certainly would’ve made it stand out back in 1984.

1984 | Peak: #1

One of those great country titles that says it all upfront.

Unfortunately, it’s also one of those country titles that carries an entire song. The melody here lands just shy of memorable, and ditto to the story, which never takes its characters deeper than their charming first encounter at the jukebox. (Instead it does that annoying second-verse thing where it just rephrases the chorus and spells out a few obvious inferences the listener has already made.)

1983 | Peak: #1

The 80’s keyboard is like a cheese grater grating extra cheese onto the pizza that is “You Look So Good in Love.” To the modern ear, it imbues the song with an unintentional levity even before George gets to his third-verse recitation. Throw in the über-earnest chorus – not to mention the video – and the thing becomes just about impossible to take seriously.

1983 | Peak: #4

Arguably his signature song, “Amarillo By Morning” officially announced Strait as a distinctive artist of substance and merit.

Listening to it 28 years after its original release, it’s amazing how much this sounds like George Strait, like he’s finally found his niche as a performer.