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The story behind Keith Urban’s “You’ll Think of Me”

By on September 1, 2023

If you’re a fan of Keith Urban, you might be wondering about the story behind one of his most popular songs, “You’ll Think of Me”. The song is a country ballad about a bitter breakup, where the narrator tells his ex to take her belongings and leave, but predicts that she will regret her decision and think of him someday. The song was released in January 2004 as the fourth and final single from Urban’s third studio album, Golden Road. It became a crossover hit, reaching number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, number two on the Adult Contemporary chart, number six on the Adult Top 40 chart, and number 24 on the Hot 100 chart. It also won Urban his first Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 2006.

File Photo: Keith Urban in Milwaukee, 2015. Used with Permission. (Photo Credit: Larry Philpot)

The song was written by Darrell Brown, Ty Lacy, and Dennis Matkosky, who all have a history of working with country singer LeAnn Rimes. According to Matkosky, the song was inspired by Lacy’s emotions after a recent breakup. He also credits Lacy with coming up with the song’s famous line, “And take your cat and leave my sweater, ’cause we have nothing left to weather”, which has been misheard by some listeners as “cap” instead of “cat”. Matkosky said that he knew the line was a keeper when a publisher told him he should change it.

Matkosky also revealed that the original demo of the song, sung by Lacy, sounded almost like a Peter Gabriel song. When Brown brought the song to Urban, he didn’t play him the demo, but showed him the chords and the feel of the song, which helped Urban make it his own. Matkosky said that Urban’s vocal changed everything and gave the song a new dimension.

The music video for the song was directed by Sam Erickson and premiered in January 2004. It shows Urban walking around an empty apartment, reminiscing about his ex, interspersed with scenes of him performing the song on stage. The video also features a cameo appearance by Urban’s cat at the time, named Merle.

The song has been used in several TV shows, such as Cold Case and Scrubs. In 2022, Urban released a live version of the song to coincide with the start of his The Speed of Now World Tour.

If you want to learn more about the song and its writers, you can check out these sources:

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