About The Song
With her soaring voice, there’s no way Martina McBride songs won’t make you sing along or send chills down your spine. After all, her tunes are an irrefutable part of the country music canon.
Martina McBride moved to Nashville in 1989 as a budding country singer with one goal – and that’s to build the perfect traditional country album. The Kansas native was raised on the sounds of classic country music, so she went all out for the authenticity of old-time country style and substance. She fulfilled that goal with the release of her debut studio album in 1992.
Since then, she has expanded on the traditional roots and joined the top ranks of brilliant new country performers. Swiftly, she won back-to-back Female Artist of the Year from the Country Music Association, with her fourth win in 2004, and several nods from the Grammy Awards.
“A Broken Wing” is a song written by James House, Sam Hogin and Phil Barnhart, and recorded by American country music singer Martina McBride. It was released in September 1997 as the second single from McBride’s album Evolution. In January 1998, “A Broken Wing” became McBride’s second Number One single.
In the song, the narrator recounts a young woman escaping from an emotionally abusive relationship. Regarding the second verse, wherein the husband finds “a note by the window / and the curtains blowin’ in the breeze,” the authors of the book My Country Roots wrote the song’s conclusion could be interpreted to indicate the woman either escaped or committed suicide.
Producer Paul Worley told Billboard magazine in 1998 the track, except for the backing vocals, was recorded in one day, while other tracks on the album were recorded in pieces over time.
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Lyrics
She loved him like he was
The last man on Earth
Gave him everything she ever had
He’d break her spirit down
Then come lovin’ up on her
Give a little and take it back
She’d tell him ’bout her dreams
He’d just shoot ’em down
Lord, he loved to make her cry
“You’re crazy for believin’
You’ll never leave the ground”
He said, “Only angels know how to fly”
And with a broken wing
She still sings
She keeps an eye on the sky
With a broken wing
She carries her dreams
Man, you ought to see her fly
One Sunday morning
She didn’t go to church
He wondered why she didn’t leave
He went up to the bedroom
Found a note by the window
With the curtains blowin’ in the breeze
And with a broken wing
She still sings
She keeps an eye on the sky
With a broken wing
She carries her dreams
Man, you ought to see her fly
with a broken wing
She carries her dreams
Then you ought to see her fly (with a broken wing)