Gill was born in Norman, Oklahoma, the home of the University of Oklahoma Sooners and learned to play several instruments, including banjo and guitar before he started high school at Oklahoma City's Northwest Classen High School. After he graduated, he played in a number of bluegrass bands. He debuted on the national scene with the country-rock band Pure Prairie League in 1979, appearing on that band's album Can't Hold Back. Gill is the lead singer on their hit song, "Let Me Love You Tonight" (1980), which he was still performing in concert years later - thus, he said, confusing many fans who knew him only from his subsequent solo work. Gill appeared on two subsequent albums along with his then-wife Janis Oliver.
Departing Pure Prairie League in 1981, Gill joined Rodney Crowell’s backing band The Notorious Cherry Bombs, where he met and worked with Tony Brown and Emory Gordy Jr., both of whom would later produce many of his future solo albums.
Signing as a solo artist with RCA Records in 1983, he first charted while on that label. In 1989 he switched to MCA Records where he recorded his breakthrough hit "When I Call Your Name." His 1998 album The Key received great critical acclaim. His other albums include Next Big Thing (2003) and Let's Make Sure We Kiss Goodbye (2000). The Guitar Slinger Songfacts says that Gill released his twelfth studio album, Guitar Slinger, on October 25, 2011 via MCA Nashville. It was his manager, Larry Fitzgerald, who came up with the title, as he felt there was something different the way Gill was playing the guitar on the record.
Gill hosted the CMA Awards every year from 1992 to 2003. In 2004 he received a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. In 1997, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
He married country singer Janis Oliver (of Sweethearts of the Rodeo fame) in 1980. The couple have one daughter, Jennifer Jerene Gill, born 5 May 1982. Vince and Janis separated in the mid-1990s and eventually divorced in June 1998. Vince later began dating and eventually married Christian/pop singer Amy Grant in March of 2000. They have one daughter, Corrina Grant Gill born 12 March 2001.
Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler was a fan of Gill's, and had asked Gill to join the band full time. Gill turned down the invitation but did sing backup on one song ("The Bug") from Dire Straits' album On Every Street.
Gill has also sung duets with numerous artists, including Dolly Parton ("I Will Always Love You"), Reba McEntire ("Oklahoma Swing," "The Heart Won't Lie," "It Just Has to Be That Way"), Amy Grant ("House of Love"), and Barbra Streisand ("If You Ever Leave Me"); his other credits as a backup vocalist have included "Girls With Guitars" by Wynonna Judd (written by Mary-Chapin Carpenter, who, coincidentally, had a country hit with her cover of "The Bug") and "Nothing Left Behind Us" by Richard Marx.
Take Your Memory With You
Vince Gill Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You pretend that nothing's changed at all
I've got just one thing to ask you if it's so
Just take your memory with you when you go
So I won't have to think about
The lonely nights I'll be without
Someone to hold me when the cold wind blowsTake your memory with you when you go
I walk the floor and wonder what went wrong
I'll have to find a way to carry on
Why don't you leave before the heartache starts to show
Take your memory with you when you go
So I won't have to think about
The lonely nights I'll be without
Someone to hold me when the cold wind blows
Take your memory with you
So I won't have to miss you
Take your memory with you when you go
The lyrics to Vince Gill's song "Take Your Memory With You" are about a relationship that has ended, and the singer is asking their former partner to take their memories with them when they go. The singer can see that things have changed in the relationship and that their partner is pretending that everything is okay. However, the singer is struggling to come to terms with the breakup and knows that they will miss their former partner terribly. They ask their partner to take their memories with them so that they won't have to think about the painful times they shared, and so that they won't have to be reminded of their loneliness.
The lyrics are full of emotion and heartache, as the singer tries to come to terms with the end of their relationship. They are begging their former partner to leave before they become too hurt, and to take the memories of the relationship with them so that the singer can begin to move on. The line "I walk the floor and wonder what went wrong" is particularly poignant, as it shows the singer struggling to understand why the relationship has ended and how they will move forward.
Overall, "Take Your Memory With You" is a beautifully written song that captures the pain and heartache of a relationship ending. The singer's plea to their former partner to take their memories with them when they go is a powerful image that will resonate with anyone who has gone through a breakup.
Line by Line Meaning
I can read the writing on the wall
I can see that our love is coming to an end
You pretend that nothing's changed at all
You're acting like everything is still okay even though it's not
I've got just one thing to ask you if it's so
I have a request for you
Just take your memory with you when you go
When you leave, please take the memories of our relationship with you
So I won't have to think about
I don't want to keep reminiscing about
The lonely nights I'll be without
The nights when I'll be alone and missing you
Someone to hold me when the cold wind blows
The arms of someone to comfort me when I'm feeling lonely
Take your memory with you when you go
Please take any memory of our relationship with you when you leave
I walk the floor and wonder what went wrong
I pace around and think about what led to the end of our relationship
I'll have to find a way to carry on
I know I need to figure out how to move on
Why don't you leave before the heartache starts to show
I don't want to keep pretending everything is okay until the pain becomes too much to hide
So I won't have to miss you
I don't want to feel the pain of missing you
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Vincent Grant Gill
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind