Released July 7, 1997 Recorded 1997 Length 4:50 | Format CD Single Genre Country Label Curb | |
"Everywhere" is a song written by Mike Reid and Craig Wiseman, and performed by American country music singer Tim McGraw. It was released in July 1997 as the second single from his album of the same name. The song reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and peaked at number 2 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada. Despite reaching Number One on Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (Now Hot Country Songs), the song did not appear on Tim's Greatest Hits album. It did, however, later appear on Tim's second Greatest Hits package, Reflected: Greatest Hits Vol. 2.
Contents
Content
The narrator describes a former significant other and her decision to end their relationship after a disagreement over their future together as a couple. She has opted to stay and live in the small community in which they were both born and raised, while he has chosen to live a life on the road (it is not specified whether his exact choice of lifestyle is that of a drifter or long-distance truck driver, though the song's video indicates the former). Almost from the instant that the narrator begins his traveling life, he claims that he sees his significant other, albeit in spirit, appearing in every destination in North America that he visits. Furthermore, whenever he does return to his and her hometown, he is regularly informed by its residents of her new life - she has married another man and they have subsequently started a family together. And although the narrator reaches the conclusion that his significant other is no longer in his life, he nevertheless proclaims that he will eternally carry her spirit with him in his travels with great emotion just as he always has.
Critical reception
Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe gave the song an A grade, saying that its "understated delivery packs the song with such emotional heft that the unresolved sadness lingers after the song has ended." He goes on to call it the moment where McGraw discovers "subtlety and finds it suits him quite well."
Music video
The music video was directed by Sherman Halsey, who has also directed virtually all of McGraw's other videos.
Lawsuit
In 2007, songwriter James Martinez filed a $20 million lawsuit against McGraw, Reid and Wiseman. The suit alleges that McGraw lifted “Everywhere” from an audio cassette tape containing Martinez' original track "Anytime, Anywhere, Amanda." Martinez provided the cassette to the same songwriters who wrote the song "Everywhere" for McGraw's 1997 album of the same name. The suit also alleges that McGraw and other defendants internationally released and distributed the “Everywhere” album containing their infringing copies of a song substantially similar to the Martinez's song. McGraw's attorneys stated that they are confident the case will be dismissed altogether, and described the allegations as being "totally without merit." In August 2008, the lawsuit was transferred from Texas to the federal district court in Nashville, Tennessee. The lawsuit is ongoing as of 2016, with Martinez now being represented by Bill Ramey of Ramey & Browning in Houston, Texas.
Chart positions
"Everywhere" debuted at number 72 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of July 5, 1997.