The Best Day (song)


"The Best Day" is a song written by Dean Dillon and Carson Chamberlain, and performed by American country music singer George Strait. It was released in January 2000 as the first single from his compilation album Latest Greatest Straitest Hits. The song reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.

Content

The song is told through the eyes of a father who recalls his son describing key events of his life as being "the best day of life," since they were particularly memorable and had pleasant memories attached to them. As the song progresses, the son grows from childhood into adolescence and eventually adulthood.
The first verse recalls a father-son campout, and the young boy looking forward to a weekend of fishing, conversation and bonding, and other camping-related activities with his father.
The second verse shows a boy from the first verse who now becomes a teenager and newly licensed with his father and he gets his first car, a classic Chevrolet Corvette which he and his father plan to restore.
The third and final verse is set on the son's wedding day. As they stand in a rear room of the church, the son after vowing to take what he learned in childhood from his parents and applying it to his new marriage repeats a line he has at the previous two points of his life: "I'm the luckiest man alive, this is the best day of my life" — in this final verse, replacing "boy" with "man."
The song is in the key of A major with a 4/4 time signature and a slow tempo of about 66 beats per minute. Its intro uses the pattern A-Aaug-D-E7, and the verses use a pattern of A-D-E-A.

Critical reception

Larry Flick, of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling it a "well-written tale that listeners will find easily relatable, and the chorus makes this the ultimate feel-good tune to kick off the millennium." He goes on to say that Strait's "warm-throated delivery is all honest emotion."

Chart performance

The song entered the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart at number 48 on the chart dated January 1, 2000, and spent 29 weeks on the chart. The song also climbed to number 1 after spending 17 weeks on the chart, where it held number 1 for three weeks on the chart dated April 22, 2000. In addition, this song became Strait's 36th Billboard Number One as a solo artist.

Peak positions

End of year charts