Songfacts®:

• Vince Gill covers two common country music themes in "If I Die": drinking and cheating. He told Roughstock: "I don't think I've written a song in years that has had the most immediate impact with people that this song does. I wrote this with Ashley Monroe and she had the start of it, 'If I die a-drinkin'.' Then I said, 'That song would be interesting if it went from drinking to something different. If it wasn't all about that.' So it went from, 'If I die a-drinkin', that is just who I am,' to, 'If I die a-cheatin', I will live with the shame.' Then I said, 'This could be really neat if it went the complete opposite way. If I die a singer, the last song I'll ever sing is 'When the Saints Go Marching In.'
  
  The last verse is, 'If I die a-praying to Jesus on my knees, everyone I've ever loved will be waiting there for me.' It goes from what you think is this drinking song to this really powerful ending."