Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)
Encyclopedia
"Where Were You" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music
artist Alan Jackson
. Written in the wake of the September 11 attacks, it was introduced at the Country Music Association
's annual awards show on November 7, 2001. It was then released in late November 2001 as the lead single from the album, Drive
, and reached the top of the U.S. Billboard
country charts.
Finally, on the Sunday morning of October 28, 2001, he woke up at 4 a.m. with the melody, opening lines and chorus going through his mind. He hastily got out of bed, still in his underwear, and sang them into a hand-held recorder so he wouldn't forget them. Later that morning, when his wife and children had gone to Sunday school, he sat down in his study and completed the lyrics.
The verses focused on others' reactions in the form of questions. One verse asks, "Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow?/Go out and buy you a gun?/Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watchin'/And turn on I Love Lucy
reruns?" In between, he asks about the locations of people when the tragedy played out, "Out in the yard with your wife and children?/Or workin' on some stage in LA?" In the chorus, Jackson tries to sum up his own feelings, first by calling himself merely "a singer of simple songs", and "not a real political man", and finally by paraphrasing the Biblical
New Testament
's first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 13: "Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us/And the greatest is love."
Initially, he felt squeamish about recording it, much less releasing it, because he disliked the idea of capitalizing on a tragedy. But after he played it for his wife Denise and for his producer, Keith Stegall, and it met with their approval, Jackson went into the studio to record "Where Were You" that week. On Stegall's advice, Jackson played the finished track for a group of executives at his record label. "We just kind of looked at one another", RCA Label Group chairman Joe Galante said later. "Nobody spoke for a full minute."
. Originally, he planned to perform "Where I Come From
", which at the time was the #1 hit on the Billboard country charts. But mere days before the awards show, Jackson's manager, Nancy Russell, played a recording of "Where Were You" for four of the CMA's top executives. All four were crying by the time the song ended.
The day before the show, CMT
had a brief note on its web site that Jackson would be introducing the new song during the awards telecast. The next night, after an introduction from the show's host, Vince Gill
, Jackson performed "Where Were You" seated on a stool, with an orchestra and backing singers behind him. At the conclusion of the five-minute-long song, the audience gave him an immediate standing ovation. This performance, along with the Vince Gill introduction, is used as the song's music video.
, started to play it as well. Based almost entirely on that unsolicited airplay, "Where Were You" debuted at #25 on the Billboard country chart the week ending November 24, 2001, the highest debut since "The Thunder Rolls" by Garth Brooks
debuted at #19 in 1991. A week later, with Arista finally having serviced a promotional single to radio, it jumped to #12. On the December 29 country singles chart, "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" was the #1 song. It had taken only six weeks to get there, the fastest rise to the top in four years. The song spent five weeks at the top, and it also became a Top 40 pop hit, peaking at #28. At the time, it was Jackson's biggest country and pop hit.
Jackson's record label determined that it could not manufacture a commercial single fast enough to meet demand. Instead, Arista
pushed up the release date for the new CD, Drive
, from May to January 15. Arista also chose to include both the studio version and the live CMA Awards version on the new CD. The pent-up demand for "Where Were You" helped propel the album to the top of both the Billboard country and pop album charts, becoming Jackson's first #1 on the main album chart. It spent four weeks at the top.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
of the All Music Guide
remarked, "Given the enormity of the subject-- it's simply not something that can be summarized in song-- it's a surprisingly effective and moving tune".
Later in 2001, "Where Were You" won both the Academy of Country Music
and CMA honors for "Song of the Year" and "Single of the Year". In 2003, "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" earned Jackson his first Grammy award
, for "Best Country Song". It was also nominated in the overall "Song of the Year" category, a rarity for a pure country song, but it lost to "Don't Know Why", written by Jesse Harris and a hit for Norah Jones
. It was also ranked 28th on CMT's list of the "100 Greatest Country Songs".
Jackson's reaction to "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" was this: "I think it was Hank Williams who said, 'God writes the songs, I just hold the pen.' That's the way I felt with this song."
Dan Milliken of Country Universe rated the song #7 on his list of the 201 Greatest Singles of the Decade. He stated that the song was "cannot travel forward into the future the way other songs on this countdown can; its full impact will remain locked in the memories of those of us who lived through September 11th, 2001, and will never be experienced quite so deeply ever again."
US 7-inch single Arista Nashville 69129
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...
artist Alan Jackson
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson is an American country music singer, known for blending traditional honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. He has recorded 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, all on the Arista...
. Written in the wake of the September 11 attacks, it was introduced at the Country Music Association
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
's annual awards show on November 7, 2001. It was then released in late November 2001 as the lead single from the album, Drive
Drive (Alan Jackson album)
Drive is the tenth studio album by American country music artist Alan Jackson. Released in 2002 on Arista Nashville, the album produced Jackson's highest-debuting single on the Hot Country Songs charts in the Number One hit "Where Were You ", a ballad written in response to the September 11, 2001...
, and reached the top of 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...
country charts.
Composition
Jackson wanted to write a song expressing his thoughts and emotions, but he found it hard to do so for many weeks. "I didn't want to write a patriotic song", Jackson said. "And I didn't want it to be vengeful, either. But I didn't want to forget about how I felt and how I knew other people felt that day."Finally, on the Sunday morning of October 28, 2001, he woke up at 4 a.m. with the melody, opening lines and chorus going through his mind. He hastily got out of bed, still in his underwear, and sang them into a hand-held recorder so he wouldn't forget them. Later that morning, when his wife and children had gone to Sunday school, he sat down in his study and completed the lyrics.
The verses focused on others' reactions in the form of questions. One verse asks, "Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow?/Go out and buy you a gun?/Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watchin'/And turn on I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
reruns?" In between, he asks about the locations of people when the tragedy played out, "Out in the yard with your wife and children?/Or workin' on some stage in LA?" In the chorus, Jackson tries to sum up his own feelings, first by calling himself merely "a singer of simple songs", and "not a real political man", and finally by paraphrasing the Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
's first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 13: "Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us/And the greatest is love."
Initially, he felt squeamish about recording it, much less releasing it, because he disliked the idea of capitalizing on a tragedy. But after he played it for his wife Denise and for his producer, Keith Stegall, and it met with their approval, Jackson went into the studio to record "Where Were You" that week. On Stegall's advice, Jackson played the finished track for a group of executives at his record label. "We just kind of looked at one another", RCA Label Group chairman Joe Galante said later. "Nobody spoke for a full minute."
Introduction
Jackson was scheduled to perform at the Country Music Association's annual awards ceremony on November 7, 2001, to be aired on CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. Originally, he planned to perform "Where I Come From
Where I Come From
"Where I Come From" is the title of a country music song written and recorded by American singer Alan Jackson. Released in July 2001, it was the third single from his 2000 album When Somebody Loves You...
", which at the time was the #1 hit on the Billboard country charts. But mere days before the awards show, Jackson's manager, Nancy Russell, played a recording of "Where Were You" for four of the CMA's top executives. All four were crying by the time the song ended.
The day before the show, CMT
Country Music Television
Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...
had a brief note on its web site that Jackson would be introducing the new song during the awards telecast. The next night, after an introduction from the show's host, Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...
, Jackson performed "Where Were You" seated on a stool, with an orchestra and backing singers behind him. At the conclusion of the five-minute-long song, the audience gave him an immediate standing ovation. This performance, along with the Vince Gill introduction, is used as the song's music video.
Commercial
The next morning, many stations already were playing Jackson's new song after taking it from the broadcast. Several pop-oriented stations, including one in New YorkNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, started to play it as well. Based almost entirely on that unsolicited airplay, "Where Were You" debuted at #25 on the Billboard country chart the week ending November 24, 2001, the highest debut since "The Thunder Rolls" by Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...
debuted at #19 in 1991. A week later, with Arista finally having serviced a promotional single to radio, it jumped to #12. On the December 29 country singles chart, "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" was the #1 song. It had taken only six weeks to get there, the fastest rise to the top in four years. The song spent five weeks at the top, and it also became a Top 40 pop hit, peaking at #28. At the time, it was Jackson's biggest country and pop hit.
Jackson's record label determined that it could not manufacture a commercial single fast enough to meet demand. Instead, Arista
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
pushed up the release date for the new CD, Drive
Drive (Alan Jackson album)
Drive is the tenth studio album by American country music artist Alan Jackson. Released in 2002 on Arista Nashville, the album produced Jackson's highest-debuting single on the Hot Country Songs charts in the Number One hit "Where Were You ", a ballad written in response to the September 11, 2001...
, from May to January 15. Arista also chose to include both the studio version and the live CMA Awards version on the new CD. The pent-up demand for "Where Were You" helped propel the album to the top of both the Billboard country and pop album charts, becoming Jackson's first #1 on the main album chart. It spent four weeks at the top.
Critical
Critical response to the single was largely positive. Deborah Evans Price (with Billboard) remarked "A multitude of songs have been written and recorded in the wake of September 11, but none captures the myriad emotions unleashed by the terrorist attacks on an unsuspecting nation more perfectly than Jackson's eloquent ballad". William Bowers of Pitchfork Media remarked "Jackson's 9/11 song is a predictable piece of vaguely Christian know-nothingism, with the very telling line, 'I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you/ The difference in Iraq and Iran'."Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
of the All Music Guide
All Music Guide
Allmusic is a service of music guide, owned by All Media Guide. Allmusic was founded in 1991 by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine as a guide for consumers. Its first reference book was published the following year...
remarked, "Given the enormity of the subject-- it's simply not something that can be summarized in song-- it's a surprisingly effective and moving tune".
Later in 2001, "Where Were You" won both the Academy of Country Music
Academy of Country Music
The Academy of Country Music was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Whereas the Country Music Association, founded in 1958, was based in Nashville, the Academy sought to promote country music in the western states. Among those involved in the...
and CMA honors for "Song of the Year" and "Single of the Year". In 2003, "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" earned Jackson his first Grammy award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
, for "Best Country Song". It was also nominated in the overall "Song of the Year" category, a rarity for a pure country song, but it lost to "Don't Know Why", written by Jesse Harris and a hit for Norah Jones
Norah Jones
Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...
. It was also ranked 28th on CMT's list of the "100 Greatest Country Songs".
Jackson's reaction to "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" was this: "I think it was Hank Williams who said, 'God writes the songs, I just hold the pen.' That's the way I felt with this song."
Dan Milliken of Country Universe rated the song #7 on his list of the 201 Greatest Singles of the Decade. He stated that the song was "cannot travel forward into the future the way other songs on this countdown can; its full impact will remain locked in the memories of those of us who lived through September 11th, 2001, and will never be experienced quite so deeply ever again."
Chart performance
| Chart (2001-2002) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 28 |
Track listings
US promotional CD single Arista Nashville 69118- Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) 4:58
- Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) 4:58
(same version appears twice)
US 7-inch single Arista Nashville 69129
- Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) 5:05
- Drive (For Daddy Gene) 4:03