Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you uplifting songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Grammy Award winner Trisha Yearwood tells the story of couple ready to take their relationship to the next level in her 1998 country hit, “Powerful Thing.”
Although they started out as “strangers on a two way street” and neither one was looking to fall in love, there’s no denying the amazing chemistry between them. The force of the attraction is beyond their control, stronger than a driving wind and hotter than a forest fire. Yearwood believes it’s time for them to jump right in and get over their fear of falling.
She sings, “It’s a powerful thing / It’s a powerful thing / More than three words / And a diamond ring / It can open up the heavens / Make the angels sing / Our love, baby, is a powerful thing.”
Written by Al Anderson and Sharon Vaughn, “Powerful Thing” was released as the third single from Yearwood’s album Where Your Road Leads. The song ascended to #6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks and scored the #1 spot on Canada’s RPM Country Tracks chart. Billboard critic Deborah Evans Price called the song “perky and playful,” pointing to Yearwood’s “incredible voice and tons of personality.”
“Powerful Thing” also appears as the 14th track of the artist’s 2007 album Trisha Yearwood: Greatest Hits.
Patricia Lynn “Trisha” Yearwood was born in 1964 in Monticello, Ga., to a school teacher mom and a banker dad. She got her big break as a 21-year-old when she interned for — and was then hired by — MTM Records, which was founded by the recently departed Mary Tyler Moore. While working for MTM, Yearwood sang background vocals for new artists, including Garth Brooks.
“I got work based on the fact that I showed up on time, I worked cheap, I knew the songs when I got there and I sang on pitch,” Yearwood told People magazine in 2015.
The 52-year-old Yearwood is a member of the Grand Ole Opry and has won three Grammy Awards, three Country Music Association Awards, two Academy of Country Music Awards and an American Music Award. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide.
In 2005, she married Brooks, her longtime friend and collaborator. Brooks admitted on Ellen that there had always been an undeniable chemistry between the pair. It was likely “a powerful thing.”
Please check out Yearwood’s live performance of “Powerful Thing.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“Powerful Thing”
Written by Al Anderson and Sharon Vaughn. Performed by Trisha Yearwood.
I’ve never seen two people in my life
More determined to ignore the obvious
We better stop thinking
Let our hearts start doing the talking
You’d have to be stone deaf dumb and blind
Not to see what’s going on with us
So let’s jump in
And get over our fear of fallin’
‘Cause what we got here
Is a powerful thing
It’s a powerful thing
More than three words
And a diamond ring
It can open up the heavens
Make the angels sing
Our love, baby, is a powerful thing
We started out strangers on a two-way street
Neither one of us lookin’ to fall in love
But we don’t need us a map
To know we’re headed in that direction
Well, it’s out of our hands
And over our heads
It’s something that’s bigger than both of us
Turnin’ back now’s completely out of the question
‘Cause what we got here
Is a powerful thing
It’s a powerful thing
More than three words
And a diamond ring
It can open up the heavens
Make the angels sing
Our love, baby, is a powerful thing
Stronger than the force of a driving wind
Hotter than a forest fire
There never has been and there never will be
Nothing like the power of you and me, yeah
It’s a powerful thing
It’s a powerful thing
More than three words
And a diamond ring
It can open up the heavens
Make the angels sing
Our love, baby, is a powerful thing
It’s a powerful thing
It’s a powerful thing
More than three words
And a diamond ring
It can open up the heavens
Make the angels sing
Our love, baby, is a powerful thing
Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com.