"The Breath You Take" is a Grammy nominated country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 song by artist George Strait

George Strait

George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

, and the fourth single from his 26th studio album, Twang

Twang (album)

-Personnel:*Eddie Bayers – drums*Eric Darken – percussion*Stuart Duncan – fiddle, mandolin*Tom Flora – background vocals*Paul Franklin – steel guitar*Steve Gibson – acoustic, electric, gut string guitars*Mike Haynes – trumpet...

. It was released on July 12, 2010 as the 91st single of his career. It was written by veteran songwriter Dean Dillon

Dean Dillon

Dean Dillon is an American country music artist. Between 1982 and 1993, Dillon recorded six studio albums on various labels, and charted several singles on the Billboard country charts. Although he has not charted since 1993, Dillon has continued to write several hit songs for other artists, most...

, Jessie Jo Dillon, and Casey Beathard

Casey Beathard

Casey Beathard is an American country music songwriter. The son of former NFL general manager Bobby Beathard, he has co-written singles for several country music recording artists, including Top Ten singles for Gary Allan, Billy Ray Cyrus, Trace Adkins, and Kenny Chesney...

. It became his 83rd Top 10 hit on the Country charts. On November 10, 2010, Strait performed the song live on the CMA Awards. It received a 2011 Grammy Awards nomination in the "Best Country Song" category on December 1, 2010.

Content

The song is about savoring and realizing the important moments in life, whether they be large or small. The story is told through fatherly love, starting by giving examples from the baseball field of a boy's youth and moving to the more emotionally jarring times, birth and death.

Critical reception

The song has been widely popular amongst listeners, but has received mixed reviews. The Washington Times called it overly "maudlin." A review in the Houston Chronicle

Houston Chronicle

The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...

said, "try and keep your eyes dry" while listening to the song.

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 58 on the U.S. Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

chart for the week of July 3, 2010, two weeks before its official release date of July 12, 2010. It peaked at number 6 on that chart.

Chart (2010)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs	6
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	63
Canadian Hot 100	90