The trio originally formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006 by Charles Kelley (lead and background vocals), Dave Haywood (background vocals, guitar, piano, mandolin) and Hillary Scott (lead and background vocals).
Scott is the daughter of country music singer Linda Davis, and Charles Kelley is the brother of pop artist Josh Kelley. It was these family connections and music industry ties that helped launch the band. Kelley moved to Nashville in mid-2005 from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he had been working construction with his brother John. Trying to become a successful solo country artist, Kelley convinced his old middle-school classmate, Haywood, to move to Nashville from Georgia in 2006 so they could write music together. Shortly thereafter, Scott recognized Kelley from MySpace, and they started to talk at a Nashville music club. Kelley later invited Scott to join him and Haywood in the new group, which assumed the name Lady Antebellum. The name Antebellum comes from when the group were photographing "antebellum" homes. The antebellum ('pre-war') architectural style describes the large plantation homes in the American South. While photographing the houses one of the group said that there's a great band name in there, and they adopted the Lady Antebellum name shortly after. The trio then began performing at local venues in Nashville before being signed in July 2007 to a recording contract with Capitol Records Nashville. In an interview with Sirius Satellite Radio, Scott claimed she was rejected from the hit show American Idol two times, not even making it past the first round.
Shortly after the trio signed to the label, adult contemporary artist Jim Brickman chose Lady Antebellum to sing on his 2007 single Never Alone, which reached #14 on the Billboard adult contemporary charts. In mid-2007, Lady Antebellum also wrote a song for the MTV reality television series The Hills.
Their solo debut single Love Don't Live Here was released in September of 2007, with a music video for the song following in December. This song was the lead-off single to the band's self-titled debut album. Released on April 15, 2008, Lady Antebellum was produced by Paul Worley and Victoria Shaw, a Nashville songwriter and former solo artist. Love Don't Live Here reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. The album itself was the first album by a new duo or group to debut at Number One on the Billboard Top Country Albums charts.
A second single, Lookin' for a Good Time, was issued in June 2008 and peaked at #11 in December. In addition, Lady Antebellum was signed as an opening act on Martina McBride's "Waking Up Laughing Tour" in 2008. Lady Antebellum also contributed the song I Was Here to the AT&T Team USA Soundtrack, a song which peaked at #24 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 based on downloads. In December 2008, their rendition of Baby, It's Cold Outside peaked at #3 on the same chart. Their third official single, I Run to You, was released in January 2009. It eventually became the trio's first Number One in July 2009.
On October 7, 2009 their debut album was certified platinum by the RIAA for shipments of one million copies in the United States.
In August 2009, the group released their fourth single, Need You Now, the lead-off single and title track to their second studio album. It debuted at #50 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and became their second Number One hit on the charts for the week of November 28, 2009. The song also reached a peak of #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a number-one hit on the Hot Adult Contemporary chart, making it a crossover hit. A second single, American Honey, was released to radio on January 11, 2010 and would become their third #1 hit. Our Kind of Love was released as the third single from the album on May 31, 2010 and became a #1 single in September, 2010.
The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums charts for the week of Feb. 2, 2010, selling 480,922 copies in the first week. Four weeks after the album's release, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The week of January 9, 2011, the group ventured into the studio to begin recording for their third studio album. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kelley said, "We actually just went ahead and decided we’re gonna take two, two and a half months straight in the studio to create this thing and not have all this distraction. Hopefully that will be a good thing". He goes on to say that the group has around 50 songs which they plan to choose from along with songs from other songwriters. However, he singles out a song called Dancing Away With My Heart as one the band is particularly excited about, a song that the group co-wrote with Josh Kear, who previously wrote with the group on their hit Need You Now.
On May 2, 2011, the group released the first single from their upcoming album, titled Just a Kiss. The group performed the single on stage on American Idol's result show on May 5, 2011.
On June 11, 2020, amid the George Floyd protests, the band announced they would rename themselves "Lady A" in order to avoid racist connotations with Civil War history, as the original name was based on the Antebellum South. The band stated on social media that they were "deeply sorry for the hurt this has caused and for anyone who has felt unsafe, unseen or unvalued."
All We
Lady Antebellum Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I can't get you off my mind,
And nobody knows it but me.
I stare at your photograph,
Still sleep in the shirt you left,
And nobody knows it but me.
Everyday I wipe my tears away,
So many nights I've prayed for you to say.
I should have been chasing you,
I should have been trying to prove,
That you were all that mattered to me,
I should have said all the things,
That I kept inside of me and maybe,
I could have made you believe,
That what we had was all we ever need.
My friends think I'm moving on,
But the truth is that I'm not that strong, and nobody knows it but me.
And I've kept all the works you said,
In a box underneath my bed,
And nobody knows it but me.
But if you're happy I'll get through somehow,
But the truth is that I've been screaming out.
I should have been chasing you,
I should have been trying to prove,
That you were all that mattered to me,
I should have said all the things,
That I kept inside of me and maybe,
I could have made you believe,
That what we had was all we ever need.
It was all we'd ever need.
Oh, thought it was all we'd ever need.
I should have been chasing you,
You should have been trying to prove,
That you were all that mattered to me,
You should have said all the things,
That I kept inside of me and maybe,
You could have made me believe,
That what we had was all we ever need.
Was all we'd ever need
The song "All We'd Ever Need" by Lady Antebellum is a heart-wrenching ballad about a woman who is still very much in love with her ex-partner. She is struggling to move on and has kept all the memories of their time together locked away from everyone else. She sings about how she should have done things differently, chased her lover, and told him how much he meant to her. She reflects on how they both had enough in their relationship but failed to make each other believe, and now she's left with nothing but memories.
The first verse describes the woman's obsession with her ex-partner, whom she is unable to forget. She admits that she still has his photograph and sleeps in the shirt that he left behind. She cries for him every day but hides her pain and tears from everyone else. In the second verse, she admits that she is not as strong as her friends think she is, and she is still struggling to move on. She keeps all the notes and memories of their time together in a box under her bed and finds it challenging to let go.
The chorus of the song is about regret and hindsight. The woman believes that if she had chased her lover, told him how important he was to her, and expressed her feelings freely, their relationship could have been saved. She feels that they had everything they needed, but they failed to make each other believe it. In the end, she acknowledges that what they had was all they ever needed, and she wishes that their love could have been enough to keep them together.
Line by Line Meaning
Boy it's been all this time,
After all this time, I still can't stop thinking about you.
And I can't get you off my mind,
You're constantly on my mind and I can't stop thinking about you.
And nobody knows it but me.
Nobody but me knows that I still have feelings for you.
I stare at your photograph,
I can't help but look at your photo and remember the good times we had.
Still sleep in the shirt you left,
I still hold on to the shirt you left behind and sleep with it every night.
Everyday I wipe my tears away,
I try to hide my feelings and wipe away my tears every day.
So many nights I've prayed for you to say.
I've been praying for you to realize how I feel and express your feelings for me too.
I should have been chasing you,
I realize now that I should have been pursuing you and showing you how much you mean to me.
I should have been trying to prove,
I should have been putting in effort to show you that you are the most important thing to me.
That you were all that mattered to me,
I should have made it clear that you are the only one who matters to me.
I should have said all the things,
I regret not expressing all the feelings I had inside for you.
That I kept inside of me and maybe,
I held back and didn't say what I should have, maybe things would be different now.
I could have made you believe,
If only I had expressed my true feelings, maybe I could have convinced you that we belonged together.
That what we had was all we ever need.
I believe that what we had was all we needed to be happy.
My friends think I'm moving on,
To the outside world, it looks like I'm trying to move on and forget about you.
But the truth is that I'm not that strong, and nobody knows it but me.
The truth is that I'm still struggling to let go of you and move on, but I keep this to myself.
And I've kept all the words you said,
I still remember every word you said and hold onto them.
In a box underneath my bed,
I keep all the memories we shared in a box under my bed.
But if you're happy I'll get through somehow,
Even though it hurts, I'll find a way to move on and accept that you're happy without me.
But the truth is that I've been screaming out.
Despite my best efforts to hide it, I've been silently screaming out my pain and longing for you.
You should have been trying to prove,
I wish you had shown me that I was important to you and made an effort in our relationship.
That you were all that mattered to me,
If you had expressed how much I meant to you, maybe things would have been different.
You should have said all the things,
I wish you had shared your feelings for me and explained why I was important to you.
That I kept inside of me and maybe,
If only you had opened up, we could have had a chance.
You could have made me believe,
Perhaps if you had expressed your true feelings, you could have convinced me to believe in us.
That what we had was all we ever need.
Looking back, I realize that what we had was all we needed to be happy together.
Was all we'd ever need.
We had everything we needed to make it work, but we couldn't see it at the time.
Oh, thought it was all we'd ever need.
We both thought we had enough to sustain our relationship, but we were wrong.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: HILLARY SCOTT, CHARLES KELLEY, DAVE HAYWOOD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Melissa Ng
親愛的 經已過了良久
Boy it’s been all this time
你的影子依舊縈繞在我心中
And I can’t get you off my mind
除了我 沒有其他人知曉
And nobody knows it but me
看著你的照片
I stare at your photograph
每天晚上我仍穿著你留下的襯衣進入夢鄉
Still sleep in the shirt you left
除了我 沒有其他人知曉
And nobody knows it but me
每日每天我為自己擦乾眼淚
Everyday I wipe my tears away
在無數的漫長夜裡 盼望著你會對我說
So many nights I’ve prayed for you to say
我早應該好好珍惜你
I should’ve been chasing you
早應該努力向你證明
I should’ve been trying to prove
你是我的一切 我的所有
You were all the mattered to me
早應該對你說出一直藏在心底的說話
I should’ve said all the things that I kept inside of me
或許我會在那個曾經令你相信
And maybe I could’ve made you believe
需要的只是我們快樂的曾經
That what we had was all we’d ever need
朋友們都覺得我已經放下了過去
My friends think I’m moving on
真相是, 我並沒有想像中的堅強
But the truth is I’m not that strong
除了我, 並沒有並他人知道
And nobody knows it but me
我將妳的每一話每一語
And I’ve kept all the words you said
都塵封在床下的小盒
In a box underneath my bed
除了我, 並沒有其他人知道
And nobody knows it but me
但如果妳對這一切都高興的話, 我終有一天會放開懷抱, 放開過去
But if you’re happy I’ll get through somehow
確實地, 我曾經為妳而瘋掉
But the truth is that I’ve been screaming out
我早應該好好珍惜你
I should’ve been chasing you
早應該努力向你證明
I should’ve been trying to prove
你是我的一切 我的所有
You were all the mattered to me
早應該對你說出一直藏在心底的說話
I should’ve said all the things that I kept inside of me
或許我會在那個曾經令你相信
And maybe I could’ve made you believe
需要的只是我們快樂的曾經
That what we had was all we’d ever need
Gamer Intelligence
I feel privileged to know these guys exist and know their kind of music .
Elise Fincher
I love love love this song so much. Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott really just make this song amazing. Their voices complement each other. This song has so much emotion to it and they both really relayed that in this performance.
Nice Guy
That's her name!?! Oh lord thank you
Therapeutic Massage
I hope they stay united forever and will never dis-band
I really love the combination of their voice.
Much love from #Philippines
Spartan9199
It's 2020. I've been listening to them for twelve years. Seven albums later, this is still my favorite Lady Antebellum song.
Dawnetta Dickens
Sure makes me miss singing with my mom, I miss her so much it's hard to listen to these songs now. My mom had an amazing love for music, and such a beautiful voice. I'm glad I recorded some of her singing lady antebellum's songs before she passed. Still hearing them makes me cry. RIP momma. You are so loved and missed, I'll try not to cry.
Justine Aguilar
Dawnetta Dickens love you comments it in spied my mom to
Hannie J. Annie
Stay strong buddy 💪 I know it's the hardest thing in the world, but that's life.
TunNelLieZz
I love this song. One of the first songs I've heard from Lady Antebellum. Really emotional.
Kristle Blackmon
Love this song , and her voice is beautiful!