Nineteen

Album: The Distance (2009)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Hicks explained to the Birmingham News about this story of a teenage football star who joins the armed forces after the 9/11 attacks: "It's American and honest, the story of a war hero. Our war heroes sometimes happen to be 19 years old. I felt it was relevant right now."
  • Singer-songwriter Tom Hambridge together with Nashville songwriters Gary Nicholson and Jeffrey Steele penned this ballad. It was originally a Country hit for the duo Waycross in 2007, peaking at #54.
  • An earlier song with a similar theme of a 19-year-old soldier is "Nineteen" by the British electronic musician Paul Hardcastle. A transatlantic hit in 1985, Hardcastle was managed at the time by American Idol creator Simon Fuller. The British pop guru's company, 19 Entertainment, took its name from the song.
  • Billy Ray Cyrus covered the song in 2012, taking it to #58 on the Country chart.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Laura Nyro

Laura NyroSongwriting Legends

Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.

16 Songs With a Heartbeat

16 Songs With a HeartbeatSong Writing

We've heard of artists putting their hearts into their music, but some take it literally.

Bob Daisley

Bob DaisleySongwriter Interviews

Bob was the bass player and lyricist for the first two Ozzy Osbourne albums. Here's how he wrote songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" with Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.

Bible Lyrics

Bible LyricsMusic Quiz

Rockers, rappers and pop stars have been known to quote the Bible in their songs. See if you match the artist to the biblical lyric.

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn YankeesSongwriter Interviews

Revisit the awesome glory of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees: cheesily-acted videos, catchy guitar licks, long hair, and lyrics that are just plain relatable.

Daniel Lanois

Daniel LanoisSongwriter Interviews

Daniel Lanois on his album Heavy Sun, and the inside stories of songs he produced for U2, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan.