Songfacts®:

• This song is about taking chances - risking life and not playing it safe, because without taking chances you'll never know what you can achieve. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Emma - Wesford, Ireland
• Brooks wrote this with Jenny Yates, a songwriter from Los Angeles. During their meeting, he described something that just "stood outside the fire" for him, and it immediately sparked the song idea.
• Brooks is no stranger to taking risks, especially in pushing the boundaries of country music with rock influences or taking a stance on racial equality and gay rights (in "We Shall Be Free"). That fearlessness is at the heart of the song. He wrote in his 2017 book, The Anthology Part 1: The First Five Years: "This one was a statement I felt like I needed to make, maybe because it was also a statement I needed to hear. You know, it's one of those songs about living, about taking those risks, those chances, not playing it safe, allowing failure, allowing a little mess along the way. What is it they say, 'Better to fail trying than to never try?' If we don't respond to passion - to that thing deep within us - are we really living the fullest life? And I've always believed that. And throughout my life, songs have been the things that have helped me remember that. This song joined that family. And once we brought it in the studio, it got a treatment that was different from anything we'd ever done."
• This is the third single from Brooks' sixth studio album, In Pieces. It peaked at #3 on the Country chart.
• The music video, directed by Jon Small, introduces Brandon, a high school student with Down syndrome who trains to participate at a track & field event at his school despite his father's fears that he'll embarrass himself. At the race, he trips and falls, but his dad, ignoring the coach's protests, encourages Brandon to get back on his feet and complete the race.
• The video's school scenes were filmed at John Marshall High School in Los Angeles, where Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher" was also shot.
• In 1993, Brooks embarked on his first world tour to support the album, with each concert starting with "Standing Outside The Fire" accompanied by fire pyrotechnics.