Songfacts®:

• This song finds Atkins singing about the love between a father and son. The Country star has a son named Elijah, who he previously wrote about in his 2006 single "Watching You." He told Billboard magazine: "That little boy I'm singing about from 'Watching You,' - my four year old who said a four letter word, turned ten this week. The song is one of the edgiest things I've ever cut. I think we blew up an amp. It's really about unconditional love."
• This song about the unconditional love a parent has for a son was penned by Nashville songwriters Phil O'Donnell, Tim James and Casey Beathard. The song was originally going to be titled "She's Mine," with lyrics about a little rebellious girl. After the trio stumbled around for a bit with that concept Beathard came up with idea of calling it "He's Mine" instead and mixing together parts of their kids with memories of when they themselves were young. "[In this song, there's] little parts of our place out here in Hickman County, [Tenn.]," noted O'Donnell to Taste of Country. "We have a holler where the kids go to play pinball and shoot .22 rifles. Casey has a house by a big ol' holler in the Thompson Station area, and let's just say Tim is the kid smoking in the song when he was young [laughs]!"
• Atkins told Taste Of Country that he first heard the tune in the mid 2000s when he was doing the If You're Going Through Hell album. "I loved the song," he said. "It seems like it's dark from the front of it, but it's not. I love the language. The way I grew up, I could see that happen … the old man knocking on the front door, having him by the collar … just kind of accusatory. I've been there, and I can see that picture in my head. I think it's very real, and it says it in a different way. If it can connect, that will be great, because I've seen that reaction live and I really believe in the song and what it says. It has got a different edge. I love the song."