"For A Little While" is a song written by Steve Mandile,

Jerry Vandiver Jerry Herbert Vandiver is an American songwriter and musician. He has had two top ten singles and 5 charted singles on the Billboard Country charts. Vandiver's songs have been recorded by Tim McGraw, Gene Watson, Phil Vassar, Lonestar, The O ...

and

Phil Vassar Phillip George Vassar Jr. (born May 28, 1962) is an American country music artist. Vassar made his debut on the country music scene in the late 1990s, co-writing singles for several country artists, including Tim McGraw (" For a Little While", ...

, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

artist

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those albu ...

. It was released in November 1998 as the sixth and final single from his album '' Everywhere''. The song peaked at number 2 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...

chart but reached number-one on the Canadian ''RPM'' Country Tracks chart.

Content

The song is about a man's wistful reminiscing, particularly one summer season that he spent with a woman who is no longer with him.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price, of ''

'' magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that the "gentle rolling piano, sturdy fiddle, and out-in-front guitar work make the strong melody come alive, but McGraw's vocal is what really sells this song." Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe gave the song a B grade, saying that compared to the other singles from this album, this one is the "most frothy and least substantial." He proceeded saying that it could be "the most historically significant of the singles, given that it’s the blueprint for countless

Kenny Chesney Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has recorded more than 20 albums and has produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the US ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs and Country ...

hits that followed."CountryUniverse.net
Song review

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 74 on the

chart dated November 7, 1998. It charted for twenty weeks on that chart, and peaked at number 2 on the chart dated February 6, 1999. It also peaked at number 37 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Year-end charts

Other versions

, who co-wrote the song, recorded a version of it for his 2006 album, '' Greatest Hits, Vol. 1''.

References

{{authority control 1998 singles Tim McGraw songs Songs written by Phil Vassar Song recordings produced by Byron Gallimore Song recordings produced by James Stroud Songs written by Jerry Vandiver Curb Records singles 1997 songs Songs written by Steve Mandile