September 29, 2023

Music Friday: More Than Three Words and a Diamond Ring, Love Is a ‘Powerful Thing’

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you exciting songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, country star Trisha Yearwood’s “Powerful Thing” tells the story of a couple who can’t deny the obvious — it’s time to take their relationship to the next level.

In her 1998 country hit, Yearwood describes how the couple started out as “strangers on a two way street” with neither one looking to fall in love. But, they are instantly overwhelmed by their amazing chemistry, and the force of the attraction is beyond their control. It’s stronger than a driving wind and hotter than a forest fire. Yearwood believes it’s time for them to jump right in and get over their fear of falling.

She sings, “It’s a powerful thing / It’s a powerful thing / More than three words / And a diamond ring / It can open up the heavens / Make the angels sing / Our love, baby, is a powerful thing.”

Written by Al Anderson and Sharon Vaughn, “Powerful Thing” was released as the third single from Yearwood’s album Where Your Road Leads. The song ascended to #6 on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks and scored the #1 spot on Canada’s RPM Country Tracks chart. “Powerful Thing” also appears as the 14th track on the artist’s 2007 album Trisha Yearwood: Greatest Hits.

Patricia Lynn “Trisha” Yearwood was born in 1964 in Monticello, GA, to a school teacher mom and a banker dad. She got her big break as a 21-year-old when she interned for — and was then hired by — MTM Records, which was founded by TV legend Mary Tyler Moore. While working for MTM, Yearwood sang background vocals for new artists, including Garth Brooks (more on him later).

“I got work based on the fact that I showed up on time, I worked cheap, I knew the songs when I got there and I sang on pitch,” Yearwood told People magazine in 2015.

The 59-year-old Yearwood has been a cast member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1999 and has won three Grammy Awards, three Country Music Association Awards, three Academy of Country Music Awards and an American Music Award. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide.

She’s best known for her hits “She’s In Love With The Boy” (1991), “Walkaway Joe” (1992), “The Song Remembers When” (1993), “XXX’s and OOO’s (An American Girl)” (1994) and “Believe Me Baby (I Lied)” (1996).

In December of 2005, she married Brooks, her longtime friend and collaborator. Seven thousand fans witnessed his onstage proposal to Yearwood earlier that same year in Bakersfield, CA.

Brooks admitted on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that there had always been an undeniable chemistry between the pair. It must have been “a powerful thing.”

Yearwood will be appearing with the Nashville Symphony at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center from October 19-21.

Please check out Yearwood’s live performance of “Powerful Thing” at the 1999 American Music Awards. She is accompanied by her husband Garth Brooks, who is introduced at the time “as her good friend.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“Powerful Thing”
Written by Al Anderson and Sharon Vaughn. Performed by Trisha Yearwood, featuring Garth Brooks.

I’ve never seen two people in my life
More determined to ignore the obvious
We better stop thinking
Let our hearts start doing the talking

You’d have to be stone deaf dumb and blind
Not to see what’s going on with us
So let’s jump in
And get over our fear of fallin’
‘Cause what we got here

It’s a powerful thing
It’s a powerful thing
More than three words
And a diamond ring
It can open up the heavens
Make the angels sing
Our love, baby, is a powerful thing

We started out strangers on a two-way street
Neither one of us lookin’ to fall in love
But we don’t need us a map
To know we’re headed in that direction

Well, it’s out of our hands
And over our heads
It’s something that’s bigger than both of us
Turnin’ back now’s completely out of the question
‘Cause what we got here

It’s a powerful thing
It’s a powerful thing
More than three words
And a diamond ring
It can open up the heavens
Make the angels sing
Our love, baby, is a powerful thing

Stronger than the force of a driving wind
Hotter than a forest fire
There never has been and there never will be
Nothing like the power of you and me, yeah

It’s a powerful thing (It’s a powerful thing)
It’s a powerful thing (It’s a powerful thing)
More than three words
And a diamond ring
It can open up the heavens
Make the angels sing
Our love, baby, is a powerful thing