Ty Herndon – What Mattered Most, is a song written by Gary Burr and Vince Melamed, and recorded by American country music singer Ty Herndon. It was released in February 1995 as Herndon’s debut single and served as the lead single and title track from his debut album What Mattered Most. It became Herndon’s first number-one single on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.
Deborah Evans Price of Billboard magazine reviewed the song unfavorably saying that while Herndon turns in a “credible vocal performance”, it is “a shame that this formulaic, by-the-numbers song, written by two Nashville pros, doesn’t make much of an impression.” Michael McCall of New Country was more positive, calling it “a powerful, sensitive song about a man who realizes, too late, that he noticed everything about his lover except what was in her heart.”
Ty Herndon – What Mattered Most
From the album What Mattered Most
B-side “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim”
Released February 6, 1995
Genre Country
Length 3:41
Label Epic
Songwriter(s) Gary Burr Vince Melamed
Producer(s) Doug Johnson
COUNTRYPEDIA
Ty Herndon – What Mattered Most lyrics
[Verse 1]
I thought I knew the girl so well
If she was sad I couldn’t tell
I missed the point, I missed the signs
So if she’s gone the fault is mine
I know, I know a whole lot of little things
And even though I confess them one by one
She would still be gone
[Chorus]
Her eyes are blue, her hair is long
In ’64 she was born in Baton Rouge
Her favorite song is “In My Life”
I memorized her every move
I knew her books, her car, her cloths
But I paid no attention to what mattered most
[Verse 2]
I never asked, she never said
And when she cried I turned my head
She dreamed her dreams behind closed doors
That made them easy to ignore
And I know, I know I missed the forest for the trees
And all I have to show oh when she walked out the door
The cold facts and nothing more
[Chorus]
Her eyes are blue, her hair is long
In 64 she was born in Baton Rouge
Her father’s tall, her mother’s gone
She moved out west when she was two
The way she laughed, the way she loved
Oh my God what did I do
GENIUS
