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Kenny Chesney scored one of the biggest hits of his career with a song that his good friend Tim McGraw had already cut before deciding not to release it.
Chesney reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart on March 27, 1999, with “How Forever Feels,” the first single from his Everywhere We Go album. Wendell Mobley and Tony Mullins wrote the song, which tells the story of a man who’s had a great life, but still feels he’s missing out on knowing what life would be like if he got to spend it with a long-term love.
“I’ve been around the block a time or two / Done almost everything a boy can do / I’ve done some livin’, yeah I’ve had fun / But there is one thing that I haven’t done / I want to know how forever feels,” the chorus states.
Chesney told Billboard magazine that he wanted to cut the song initially because “it’s the only love song I know of that has both Jimmy Buffett and Richard Petty in it,” but he almost didn’t get to. McGraw had already cut his own track of the song, but when he decided not to release his recording, it left the way open for Chesney to cut the song. It went on to be one of his biggest hits, but he says McGraw did not regret his decision to pass the song by.
“I’m glad you cut it. It just didn’t work for me,” McGraw told Chesney.
Chesney’s version crossed over to score a No. 27 hit on the mainstream Billboard Hot 100 chart. The superstar still features the song in his live sets, more than 20 years after it scored him his second No. 1 hit.
