Winner at a Losing Game
| "Winner at a Losing Game" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Rascal Flatts | ||||
| from the album Still Feels Good | ||||
| Released | October 22, 2007 | |||
| Recorded | 2007 | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 3:55 (single edit) 4:48 (album version) | |||
| Label | Lyric Street | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producers |
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| Rascal Flatts singles chronology | ||||
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"Winner at a Losing Game" is a song written and recorded by American country music group Rascal Flatts. It was released in October 2007 as the second single from their album Still Feels Good, as well as their nineteenth chart single overall. The song peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in February 2008, spending four weeks at that position behind "Letter to Me" by Brad Paisley.
History
[edit | edit source]Rascal Flatts' three members (Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus, and Joe Don Rooney) wrote the song on their tour bus after a show late one night.[1] According to DeMarcus, the trio began a conversation about their musical influences, when the Eagles was mentioned. Inspired by the fact that they would be performing with the Eagles at the 2007 Grammy Awards, the trio decided to write a song that was stylistically similar to the music of the band.[2]
All three members then began to write the song that night. They came up with a verse and chorus that, according to Country Weekly, "achingly express[es] a feeling we have all experienced — loving someone who just doesn't love you the same way".[2] The next day, DeMarcus added the hook "If love is really forever, then I'm a winner at a losing game", and the song was soon finished.
LeVox considered the song special because it is the first single to be written entirely by the band's three members.[2]
In 2024, DeMarcus ranked the song #5 amongst his favorite songs he and the band had recorded.[3]
Critical reception
[edit | edit source]Ken Tucker of Billboard wrote that the song is "fresh, familiar and conjures '70s country rock".[4]
Chart performance
[edit | edit source]| Chart (2007–2008) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[5] | 2 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[6] | 52 |
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[7] | 57 |
Year-end charts
[edit | edit source]| Chart (2008) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Country Songs (Billboard)[8] | 22 |
| Canada Country (Billboard)[9] | 16 |
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Tucker, Ken (25 August 2007), "CAN RASCAL REPEAT?" Billboard. 119 (34):20-22
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- ^ "Rascal Flatts Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
- ^ "Rascal Flatts Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
- ^ "Rascal Flatts Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard.
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