Songfacts®:

• This is a song about taking turns, with Rebecca St. James playing the part of one who hadn't learned that kindergarten lesson. Inspiration came from drivers merging on the highway - some won't let you in, even if it's your turn.
  
  Bob Halligan, Jr., who wrote the song, explained in a Songfacts interview: "I wrote the song the night before I was going to do a morning drive radio show. Before I went to bed that night, I thought it would be fun to try to write something that would work well on morning drive radio. What's happening then? Alright, morning drives, people are driving to work, they're in their cars. What's an issue there? Well, people don't let each other merge onto the highway. So I thought, let's have the speaker in the song be kind of a jerk, which is the thing that I learned writing Christian music: The person singing the song should be the one who has the fault or the sin, rather than pointing a finger at someone else. Because nobody wants to be preached at, but we're interested in what's wrong with you and how you're going to fix it. So he says:
  
  It's my turn, it's not your turn
  It's my turn, get out of my way
  It's my turn, go on complain
  I'm coming through anyway
  Don't ask the why I'm like this
  But lately I'm wondering if it will come to pass
  
  And then he quotes the Bible:
  
  The last shall be first and the first shall be last
  
  The idea of pride goes before the fall. And then I go, 'Here's the way it ought to be...'"
• Bob Halligan, Jr. wrote "You Then Me" for his band Ceili Rain, but Rebecca St. James was the first to release it, including it on her third album, God, in 1996. The following year, Ceili Rain included it on their debut album, Say Kay-lee.
  
  Before forming the band, Halligan made his name as a songwriter, first for metal acts like Judas Priest and Helix, and later with more adult contemporary fare for folks like Michael Bolton and Cher. Ceili Rain is a Celtic band with a Christian message, which explains the Irish sound on St. James' recording.
• The rhythm is based on a military march, which goes along with the rigid attitude of the person who won't take turns.
• The Canadian singer/songwriter Graham Shaw is credited as a writer on this song because after Halligan wrote it, he realized it sounds a lot like Shaw's song "Keep Your Face On Straight." The two are friends, so Halligan phoned him up and offered him a split of the songwriting. "He's a dear friend to this day, due in no small part to the fact that we always were good to each other," Halligan says.