About The Song
“Meant to Be” is a song written by Chris Waters and Rick Bowles, recorded by American country music artist Sammy Kershaw, and released in March 1996 as the first single from his fourth studio album Politics, Religion and Her on Mercury Records. The song peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and No. 4 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart, marking a strong start for the album’s promotional cycle.
The recording took place in Nashville, produced by Keith Stegall, with a traditional country arrangement featuring acoustic guitar, steel guitar, and Kershaw’s smooth vocal delivery. The session included musicians such as Brent Mason on electric guitar and John D. Willis on acoustic guitar, contributing to the song’s warm, melodic tone. The track runs 3:47 on the album, with the single version maintaining the same length for radio play. Politics, Religion and Her, released on June 18, 1996, reached No. 3 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and was certified platinum, selling over 1 million copies.
The lyrics narrate a chance meeting at an airport, with lines like “Well first I missed my plane / So I wound up on your flight,” detailing a series of coincidences that lead to a romantic connection. The story unfolds with the couple stranded in Dallas-Fort Worth, sitting together, and discovering shared experiences of recent breakups, culminating in the realization that their meeting was destined. Deborah Evans Price of Billboard magazine reviewed the song, noting it contains “a sweet, simple melody and solid lyric,” and praised Kershaw’s “country-boy phrasing is icing on the cake.”
The music video, directed by Michael Salomon, premiered in 1996, featuring Kershaw singing at an airport. The video opens with him picking up a camera, discussing couples falling in love with a woman beside him, and observing a man and woman he hopes will connect. The setting ties into the song’s narrative of fate and chance encounters. Kershaw, born Samuel Paul Cashat on February 24, 1958, in Kaplan, Louisiana, drew from his country roots, with the song reflecting his mid-1990s success following hits like “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful.”
The track was released in multiple formats, including CD and cassette singles, with B-sides like “Fit to Be Tied Down” from the same album. It was performed live during Kershaw’s 1996 tour, supporting the album’s release. The song’s success paved the way for subsequent singles like “Vidalia” and contributed to the album’s overall chart performance.
Video
Lyric
Well first I missed my plane
So I wound up on your flight
Then we got stuck in Dallas-Ft. Worth
Half the night
And the only vacant seat
You could find at gate twenty-nine
Was one next to mineCall it fate, destiny
Call it luck you ended up with me
But some things are meant to be
Coincidence, circumstance
Or something bigger that’s just out of our hands
Oh, some things are meant to beYou said Atlanta was your home
Well I happened to live there too
I’d just broken up with someone
And so had you
And when you said for everyone
There is someone they’re meant to find
I knew I’d found mineCall it fate, destiny
Call it luck you ended up with me
But some things are meant to be
Coincidence, circumstance
Or something bigger that’s just out of our hands
Oh, some things are meant to beCoincidence, circumstance
Or something bigger that’s just out of our hands
Oh, some things are meant to be
Baby some things are meant to be