Fall In Love

Album: Leave the Light On (2022)
Charted: 29
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Born and raised in the small town of Louisville, Illinois, Bailey Zimmerman grew up listening to country radio on long hauls across state lines with his trucker father. Back home, his mom instilled in him an appreciation for '80s hair metal.

    Zimmerman started writing his own edgy, rock-infused country music. He shared his tunes on TikTok, and when his song "Never Comin' Home" went viral, it prompted a whirlwind label contest. Zimmerman eventually signed with Warner Music Nashville/Elekta Music Group, and not long afterwards "Fall In Love" became his first chart hit.
  • The song finds the raw-voiced singer crooning about his former love. Zimmerman details how his ex moved away from their hometown to South Carolina, where she met a wealthy man who put a rock on her finger. Though money talks, he doesn't believe she will be happier with her South Carolina guy, and her mom agrees she should never have settled down with him. Zimmerman feels heartbroken over their split and her new beau. "My confession is a lesson that I'm pourin' out in this song," he croons. "You don't wanna fall in love."
  • Bailey Zimmerman wrote the song with Gavin Lucas and Austin Shawn. Lucas came up with the song's idea in 2020 when he penned the first verse and chorus before presenting them to Zimmerman and Shawn at a songwriting session. The following year, the three fleshed out the second verse at Shawn's home studio, and Zimmerman dropped the finished version on February 11, 2022. "One of my favorite parts of that session was writing the line 'Seen your mama walking out the county market,'" the singer told Billboard, "because it ties the whole story together and gives it that small-town feeling."
  • Shawn produced the track. "From the beginning of us writing 'Fall in Love' on my couch with an acoustic guitar, I was thinking big-picture," he recalled to Billboard. "I was thinking about Bailey's roots, his rasp, the message the song carried. I wanted to define what he is all about through the emotion and sound it carried - that gritty, modern-Americana country vibe."

Comments: 1

  • Cathleen from PaWho sings background vocals on this song?
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Dean Pitchford

Dean PitchfordSongwriter Interviews

Dean wrote the screenplay and lyrics to all the songs in Footloose. His other hits include "Fame" and "All The Man That I Need."

David Sancious

David SanciousSongwriter Interviews

Keyboard great David Sancious talks about his work with Sting, Seal, Springsteen, Clapton and Aretha, and explains what quantum physics has to do with making music.

Roger McGuinn of The Byrds

Roger McGuinn of The ByrdsSongwriter Interviews

Roger reveals the songwriting formula Clive Davis told him, and if "Eight Miles High" is really about drugs.

Francis Rossi of Status Quo

Francis Rossi of Status QuoSongwriter Interviews

Doubt led to drive for Francis, who still isn't sure why one of Status Quo's biggest hits is so beloved.

Dan Reed

Dan ReedSongwriter Interviews

Dan cracked the Top 40 with "Ritual," then went to India and spent 2 hours with the Dalai Lama.

Jackie DeShannon - "Put a Little Love in Your Heart"

Jackie DeShannon - "Put a Little Love in Your Heart"They're Playing My Song

It wasn't her biggest hit as a songwriter (that would be "Bette Davis Eyes"), but "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" had a family connection for Jackie.