days . He kind of returned the compliment when we did our record together … he said , “ I never knew how good a guitar player you were !” ( laughs ) He had heard me every night before and when we got back together , I think we both realized that there was a real magic when we did stuff together .
[ WM ] You ’ ve mentioned several already , but who are some of the other artists you shared the stage or toured with ?
[ Randy ] Well , we toured for some reason with B . J . Thomas . Poor B . J . had a long string of hits like , “ Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head .” So , it was a little confusing because his audience would come to hear his pop hits and then he had a record called , “ Home Where I Belong .” That was rough because he would get in front of the audience and the people who wanted to hear the pop stuff would walk out on him when he would do his Christian material and the Christians would walk out on him when he would do his pop material . ( laughs ) So , he had a tough time trying to figure out how to be a Christian in that world . So , that was odd …
I remember one date we did with Three Dog Night . They got the band back together … you had the three original singers and all the original band members which takes a lot of doing . I really enjoyed seeing that original band back together and they played two solid hours of non-stop hits !
By the way , I wrote a book called Song Story and it ’ s the story of “ Butterfly Kisses ” and my whole songwriting career . But , in the book I told this story … So , I was backstage with Three Dog Night talking to the guitar player , Michael Allsup and I said , “ Hey , tell me some of the stories of what it was like being out there with Three Dog Night . You guys were out there in the late 60 ’ s and early 70 ’ s just on top of rock and roll and pop music .”
He looked at me and said , “ I don ’ t remember any of it !” ( laughs ) And I realized he was talking about the drugs and substances they were
consuming at the time . He said that it was 1967 and then the next thing he knows it was 1975 and it ’ s over and he can ’ t remember any of it ! So , that was a sobering lesson .
[ WM ] Tell us about “ Butterfly Kisses ”. When the song was finished , did you expect it to blow up like it did ?
[ Randy ] Well , prior to “ Butterfly Kisses ” we had a song called , “ Why ’ d You Come in Here Looking Like That ?” Bob had come over and said he had an idea for a country song , and he sang me the title and then he had no lyrics . I could just hear that it was great . I remember having one of those legal pads and I just started writing the lyrics to that song while thinking , “ I have no business writing a country song !” So , that was the first time outside of Allies that we had a # 1 country hit . That caused us to move to Nashville … not only the center of country music , but it was becoming the center hub of Christian music as well .
After our band , Allies , Bob was doing solo records just the same as Bryan . And , again , he had a chorus and a verse for “ Butterfly Kisses ” written out . And I was thinking , “ OK , you ’ re writing this song for your daughter , Brookie .” In my mind , I was writing for my daughter , Crystal . We were both at that point where our daughters had gone from being Daddy ’ s little girl to that point where when you go to kiss them and they ’ re like , “ Oh gross !” So , there was this really big change going from this cute little girl to where you ’ re just always hearing the popping of gum ! So , we ’ re comparing notes on what it ’ s like to watch our little girl grow up and I had said to Bob , “ On the second verse let ’ s have it be the 16 th birthday and on the third verse , let ’ s have a verse about her getting married .”
Again , this is in the Song Story book . I remember specifically Bob saying , “ Oh no , if I sing about Brookie getting married , I will cry .” Then he kind of looked at me like … “ If it ’ ll make me cry , maybe it ’ ll make somebody else cry !” When it comes to writing , Bob is a flash of brilliance kind of guy and I ’ m more of the organized , type-A personality and so , I was mapping it out and we ended up having multiple writing sessions . When the record came out it had Bob ’ s face and had the title , Shades of Grace . When they put out the song , “ Butterfly Kisses ” it went to # 2 , not # 1 in Christian radio .
Then there came some people , George Cain being one of them , who wanted to put it out to the general market , the “ real world .” And when they put it out there , it just exploded ! So , they re-released the record and it became , Butterfly Kisses ( Shades of Grace ) and the album had a big butterfly on it . I never saw any of this coming , you know … I was just clueless ! So , the next thing you know , the whirlwind happened , and it sold three million and it sold a million singles . We went to New York and won a Grammy for , are you ready for this ? Country Song of the Year ! That was bizarre how we took the country Grammy .
Then they re-released it to Christian radio and this time it went to # 1 . It was fun . It was
March 2024 Subscribe for Free ... 57