The List

5 Country Songs That Will Remind You of Your First Real Love (Or Heartbreak)

Your first real love sticks with you, even if youโ€™ve parted ways with the actual person who held your affection in your younger years. The first real heartbreakโ€”more often than not at the hands of the same personโ€”tends to do the same. Music has a way of transporting us back to those moments of green puppy love, when things felt hopeful and full of promise, including these five iconic country songs.

โ€œRemember Whenโ€ by Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson gifted the world the ultimate nostalgic and romantic look-back song we could ask for with his 2003 release of โ€œRemember Whenโ€. This is among the most ubiquitous country songs about reflecting on a relationship, and this one has the added benefit of being positive, not forlorn. โ€œRemember when I was young, and so were you / and time stood still and love was all we knew.โ€

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โ€œStrawberry Wineโ€ by Deana Carter

Most of us can relate to sneaking off with a beau in the late hours when our parents thought we were sleeping over at a platonic friendโ€™s house. (Or whatever excuse you had to tell your parents to go have a rendezvous with your special someone.) Deana Carterโ€™s 1996 classic, โ€œStrawberry Wineโ€, captures this innocent rebellion perfectly.

โ€œSheโ€™s In Love With The Boyโ€ by Trisha Yearwood

When youโ€™re young and in love, no one can tell you anything. Your feelings are so strong and intense that itโ€™s easy to believe that your relationship will last forever. Sometimes, it does. Other times, country songs like Trisha Yearwoodโ€™s โ€œSheโ€™s In Love With The Boyโ€ make you shake your head in pleasant disbelief that you ever thought you were going to marry the person you were with when you were sixteen.

โ€œSuds In The Bucketโ€ by Sara Evans

Sara Evansโ€™ classic country single โ€œSuds In The Bucketโ€ painted the perfect, ultra-Americana image of a googly-eyed teenager being whisked away by her Prince Charming in a white pickup truck. Thereโ€™s a bit of world-weary perspective in the mix, thanks to the chorus that captures the thoughts of the parents watching their little girl ride away in the sunset. Oh, to be young and in love.

โ€œCheck Yes Or Noโ€ by George Strait

Finally, one of the best country songs to teleport you back in time to your first schoolyard crush is George Straitโ€™s โ€œCheck Yes Or Noโ€. Remember when the most terrifying thing youโ€™d do all day was send your crush a note admitting you liked them? Times were certainly simpler back then. โ€œIt started way back in third grade / I used to sit behind Emmylou Hayes / A pink dress, a matching bow in her ponytail / She kissed me on the school bus but told me not to tell.โ€

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