With a contract to Mercury Records (1975), McEntire began her professional career singing heavily pop-influenced ballads, a far cry from the neotraditionalist movement she would help lead a few years later.
"I Don't Want To Be A One Night Stand" became her first charting single in 1976. Her first Top 10 hit "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven" followed four years later, and in 1982 she scored her first #1 hit with "Can't Even Get The Blues."
Frustrated at her limited commercial success, McEntire left Mercury and signed with MCA Records in 1984. 1984's "Just A Little Love" wasn't much different form her Mercury material and was only moderately successful. However, another album followed later that same year, titled "My Kind of Country." This was a return-to-roots record, complete with fiddles and steel. It was comprised largely of covers of classic country songs, as well as original songs such as "How Blue" and the Harlan Howard-penned "Somebody Should Leave", both of which reached #1 on the Billboard country singles chart.
In the early 1990s McEntire expanded her audience by adopting a softer, more pop-oriented sound. She became one of the best-selling country artists of all time, releasing three volumes of greatest hits collections.
Since that first #1 hit in 1982, she's forked out 21 more chartbusters, which are all recapped on "Reba #1s" released on November 22nd, 2005. The 2-disc compilation features all 22 number one singles (according to Billboard magazine) in chronological order, including two new tracks "You're Gonna Be" and "Love Needs A Holiday." "Reba #1s" also contains 11 singles that reached the #1 spot in publications other than Billboard.
She won the Female Vocalist of the Year award from the Country Music Association four times in a row (a record she holds with Martina McBride), and had dozens of Top Ten hits during the 80s. For her contribution to the recording industry, Reba McEntire has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. In 1995, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
She is one of only six solo women (others include Shania Twain, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Taylor Swift), to win the Country Music Association's highest honor, "Entertainer Of The Year". McEntire continued to hit the charts through the 2000s, as well as appearing in television and film, most notably Tremors, a cult horror movie series, Forever Love, and One Night at McCool's. She also starred as Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun on Broadway, receiving critical acclaim.
From 2001 to 2007, Reba starred in the hit WB television show, Reba (with Texan actor Christopher Rich as her philandering ex-husband), even getting a visit from fellow country star Dolly Parton who played Reba's character's supervisor at a real estate firm.
Little Girl
Reba McEntire Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
If I ran too fast I'd fall and hurt myself
But the ice cream man would ring his bell
And I'd get there before anyone else
I'd see a puppy in the window
And I'd run and press my face against the pane
And Daddy'd say slow down girl
[Chorus]
That little girl I knew
Ran after you
But she fell this time
And broke her heart in two
Hey that's just like a little girl I knew
Back home there stands an old house
With a picket fence beneath a big oak tree
I can almost see the backyard
And a little girl with freckles
That was me
And there were dreams of toys and storybooks and
Lord it seemed I wanted them so bad
Now 20 years have come and gone
And I'm still chasing things that I can't have
[Chorus]
Yes, I'm still that little girl
Daddy I still haven't slowed down yet
The first verse of Reba McEntire's "Little Girl" speaks of childhood innocence and youthfulness. The father-daughter relationship is expressed as the father warns his daughter not to run too fast as he does not want her to get hurt. Despite that, the little girl is impatient and wants to be the first to catch the ice cream man when he arrives, which emphasises the eagerness of youth that wants to, as they say, "seize the day."
The second verse continues with a pivotal moment in the little girl's life where she is reminded of the carefree girl she used to be, who would eagerly press her face against the window to see a puppy or whatever else was there. The father once again tells her to slow down, indicating her growing impatience and her eagerness to grow up too quickly. The chorus then comes in, and the girl is heartbroken because she has chased after someone or something too fast, hurting herself, just as her dad had feared back in her childhood. The closing verse brings the song full circle, with the little girl growing up too fast and still chasing after things beyond her reach while refusing to slow down, as she remembers the house she grew up in and her younger self.
Line by Line Meaning
Daddy used to tell me
My father would always warn me
If I ran too fast I'd fall and hurt myself
That I could get hurt if I didn't slow down
But the ice cream man would ring his bell
The sound of the ice cream truck would draw my attention
And I'd get there before anyone else
I would hurry to the ice cream truck to get there before anyone else
I'd see a puppy in the window
I saw a puppy through the window of a store
And I'd run and press my face against the pane
I got excited and ran up to the window to see it better
And Daddy'd say slow down girl
My father reminded me to slow down
After all these years I guess nothing has changed
Even now, I still struggle with slowing down
[Chorus]
The chorus repeats the main message of the song
That little girl I knew
Referring to the younger version of myself
Ran after you
I was in pursuit of something, such as love or a goal
But she fell this time
But this time, I failed
And broke her heart in two
The failure hurt me deeply
Hey that's just like a little girl I knew
I am still prone to making mistakes as the younger version of myself did
Back home there stands an old house
Returning to a place I used to live
With a picket fence beneath a big oak tree
A description of the house's surroundings
I can almost see the backyard
I can envision the place where I used to play
And a little girl with freckles
This describes my physical appearance then
That was me
The little girl with freckles is who I used to be
And there were dreams of toys and storybooks and
I had many aspirations as a child
Lord it seemed I wanted them so bad
It felt like I had to have those things to be happy
Now 20 years have come and gone
Years have passed since my childhood
And I'm still chasing things that I can't have
I am still pursuing unachievable things as an adult
[Chorus]
The chorus repeats the main message of the song
Yes, I'm still that little girl
Despite growing up, I am still that same person deep down
Daddy I still haven't slowed down yet
Even after all these years, I still struggle with the same thing my father warned me about
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: KENDAL FRANCESCHI, QUENTIN POWERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind