Keith Urban Celebrates 12th #1

Keith Urban and wife Nicole Kidman attended a Nashville party on Wednesday June 22nd celebrating the #1 hit “Without You.”  Keith said, “I didn’t record the song because I thought it would be a hit.  I recorded it because it moved me and touched me.  I couldn’t believe how much it captured my life so beautifully. It’s rare to hear a song where every lyric is so poignant for me.” 

“Without You” was written by Dave Pahanish and Joe West.  They were also at the party, and credited another artist, Emily West, for getting the song to Keith.  Joe said, “This song was written in the summer of 2008, and we tried to get the song to Keith, but eventually an artist we’ve worked with named Emily West went up to Keith and played it for him, and he loved it.   You write songs because they come from the heart, and hopefully they find a perfect match, and this one did.”

The actual inspiration for the song came from writer Dave Pahanish, who said, “I’d just met my wife, and was going through the rounds of meeting everyone in her family.  Around that time, we’d just had our first hit with “Do You Believe Me Now,” recorded by Jimmy Wayne, and it was climbing like a bullet.  Just after that, my wife’s sister gave birth to a baby girl.  That’s how it came about.” 

Although the song as written captured Keith’s experience with his wife and daughter, it turns out he made a couple of small lyrical changes, as pointed out by writer Pahanish: “One of the lines at the end was originally ‘Without you I’d be fine.'”  Keith explained, “To say it correctly, life would go on if we broke up, and I wanted something with more oomph, so we changed it to ‘Without you I’d survive,’ because it’s not a great way to live just surviving.”

Keith remembered playing the song for his wife, and her response and her reaction to it is what convinced him to record it.  He then grabbed his guitar and performed it for the crowd.

Tags: #1, urban

Category: NEWS