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.
The Great Divide
Reba McEntire Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I could swear a stranger's laying by my side
And I could swear a long dark valley lies between us
And there ain't no way to cross the great divide
The great divide ain't in Colorado
It's the distance that we've somehow grown apart
The great divide, oh, that river's sorrow
Now Lord, knows we're both tryin' hard at crossin' over
But pride runs as deep as it is wide
And the love that once could conquer any mountain
Has reached the edge of the great divide
The great divide ain't in Colorado
It's the distance that we've somehow grown apart
The great divide, oh, that river's sorrow
We can't rebuild the bridge we've burned between our hearts
The great divide ain't in Colorado
The lyrics of Reba McEntire's song The Great Divide are a heartbreaking exploration of the distance that can grow between two people in a relationship. The singer describes the feeling of watching as the space between them grows wider and wider, until it feels like they are strangers lying in separate beds. The metaphor of a "long dark valley" that separates them highlights the sense of hopelessness and despair that comes with a relationship that has lost its connection.
The idea of the "great divide" is significant because it represents the emotional distance between the two people. The singer notes that it is not a physical divide, like a river in Colorado, but something intangible that has grown between them. Although they both want to cross over to the other side, their pride makes it difficult to find a way back to each other. The final lines of the song suggest that even though they may have once had a love that could conquer any obstacle, they have now reached a point of no return.
This song is a powerful representation of the struggles that many relationships face. It highlights the importance of communication and the need to actively work to maintain a connection with the people we love. It also speaks to the pain that can come from a relationship that has lost its intimacy and the difficulty of finding a way back to each other.
Line by Line Meaning
Well, I could swear this king size bed keeps gettin' wider
I feel like the space between me and my partner is growing larger and more distant, like the bed we share is stretching out.
And I could swear a stranger's laying by my side
Our disconnect has gotten so great that it feels like there is someone else beside me, not the person I have committed to.
And I could swear a long dark valley lies between us
Our relationship has become like a deep and dark valley, with seemingly no way to get back up to the top where we used to be.
And there ain't no way to cross the great divide
Our differences have become so great that it seems impossible for us to bridge the gap and come back together as we once were.
The great divide ain't in Colorado
The divide between us isn't a physical location like the state of Colorado, but rather an emotional and personal one that we have created ourselves.
It's the distance that we've somehow grown apart
The divide comes from the growing emotional distance we have developed between each other over time.
We can't rebuild the bridge we've burned between our hearts
Even if we wanted to fix what we've broken, we realize that the damage we've caused is too great to simply rebuild the connection we once had.
Now Lord, knows we're both tryin' hard at crossin' over
We are both making sincere efforts to come back to each other, but it's just not working as we hoped it would.
But pride runs as deep as it is wide
Our egos have become a significant part of the problem and are a major obstacle to repairing our relationship.
And the love that once could conquer any mountain
Our love for each other used to be able to overcome even the biggest obstacles, but now it seems like that's no longer the case.
Has reached the edge of the great divide
Our love has come up against an insurmountable chasm that we cannot seem to bridge, and it feels like we're at the point of no return.
The great divide, oh, that river's sorrow
The divide between us represents a deep sadness and pain that we both feel about the state of our relationship.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
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