KEITH WHITLEY - WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL

WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL

KEITH WHITLEY

SONGWRITERS: DON SCHLITZ & PAUL OVERSTREET

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES

LABEL: RCA NASHVILLE

GENRE: COUNTRY

YEAR: 1988

 

          Jackie Keith Whitley (July 1, 1954 – May 9, 1989) was an American country music singer. During his career, Whitley only recorded two albums but charted 12 singles on the Billboard country charts, and 7 more after his death.

          Born in Ashland, Kentucky, Whitley grew up in nearby Sandy Hook, Kentucky. Whitley began his career there in 1970, performing in Ralph Stanley's band. Establishing himself as a lead singer in bluegrass music, Whitley moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1983 and began his recording career there. His first Top 20 Country Hit single, "Miami, My Amy", was released in 1986. In 1988, his first three singles from his studio álbum Don't Close Your Eyes, the title song, "When You Say Nothing at All" and "I'm No Stranger to the Rain" were number one hits. Years of alcoholism severely compromised his health and he died of alcohol intoxication in 1989 at his Goodlettsville home at the age of 34. His later singles, "I Wonder Do You Think of Me", "It Ain't Nothin'", and "I'm Over You", were released after his death.

           "When You Say Nothing at All" is a country song written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz. It was a hit song for three different performers: Keith Whitley, who took it to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart on December 24, 1988; Alison Krauss, whose version was her first solo top-10 country hit in 1995; and Irish pop singer Ronan Keating, whose version was his first solo single and a chart-topper in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and New Zealand in 1999.

It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart

Without saying a word you can light up the dark

Try as I may I could never explain

What I hear when you don't say a thing

 

[Chorus]

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me

There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me

A touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall

Now you say it best, when you say nothing at all

 

All day long I can hear people talking out loud

But when you hold me near you drown out the crowd

Old Mister Webster could never define

What's being said between your heart and mine

[Chorus]