On this day (June 13) in 1987, Randy Travis started a three-week run at the top of the Hot Country Songs chart with “Forever and Ever, Amen.” It was the only multi-week No. 1 of the year and the first to spend more than two weeks at the top since 1984. The song also won Single of the Year and Song of the Year at the ACM Awards and Single of the Year at the CMA Awards. Travis almost didn’t get to record the song, though. Songwriters Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz wrote it with George Jones in mind.
Overstreet, Schlitz, and Travis were a winning combination. The pair wrote “Deeper than the Holler,” “Forever and Ever, Amen,” and “On the Other Hand.” Travis took all three of those songs to No. 1. The way they wrote about love and devotion fit his voice like a glove. The result was a handful of songs that will forever touch the hearts of listeners.
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Overstreet revealed their original intention for this song and how it landed with Travis in an interview with American Songwriter. “When we wrote ‘Forever and Ever, Amen,’ I wanted to take it to George Jones,” he said. “Our publishing company wanted to take it to Randy. So, they got that song.”
Randy Travis Brought a Young Cancer Patient Hope
Randy Travis recorded one of the best love songs of all time with “Forever and Ever, Amen.” However, it was more moving than he or its writers could have imagined for one young listener.
The line about loving a woman even if she lost her hair inspired a young girl who was fighting cancer. The treatment made her hair fall out, and it crushed her confidence.
“I always feel like God uses things in certain ways,” Paul Overstreet told Songfacts. “She wouldn’t even go out and play because she was embarrassed that she lost her hair. She wouldn’t play with her friends,” he added. “Then, when she heard that song, she said, ‘If Randy Travis could love somebody without hair, my friends should be able to love me.’ And she started going out and playing with her friends again. Music is so amazing, how it touches people’s lives.”
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