B-side "Only a Dream" Recorded 1992 Length 4:01 (album version) | Released December 6, 1993 Genre Country | |
Format Cassette single, 7" single | ||
"He Thinks He'll Keep Her" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Mary Chapin Carpenter. It was released in December 1993 as the sixth single from the album Come On Come On. The song was Carpenter’s first number-one single on the Radio & Records country music charts, although it peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It was written by Carpenter and Don Schlitz.
The song was motivated in response to a 1970s Geritol TV commercial in which a man points to his wife’s many accomplishments and attributes, and then concludes with "My wife...I think I'll keep her". The song itself, however, is about a woman who leaves an unhappy marriage, despite outward signs that it had been happy if not stable.
The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, and was accompanied by a live performance music video, taken from the 1993 CBS special Women of Country, where Carpenter was accompanied by Emmylou Harris, Kathy Mattea, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Suzy Bogguss and Pam Tillis.
Music video
The music video – a live performance of the song with backing vocals by Emmylou Harris, Trisha Yearwood, Patty Loveless, Pam Tillis, Kathy Mattea and Suzy Bogguss, taken from the 1993 CBS television special Women of Country – was directed by Bud Schaetzle, and premiered in early 1994.