About The Song
Born in Mississippi and raised in Garland, Texas, LeAnn Rimes was a prodigious young talent, singing in public from the age of five. She performed throughout the south and was a contestant on Star Search, while also releasing two EPs and a full-length album as an independent artist, all before the age of twelve. Dallas radio DJ Bill Mack was an enthusiastic supporter, and co-wrote the song that would become her breakthrough hit: “Blue.” Serving as her debut single for Curb Records and as the title cut of her first major label album, “Blue” was an explosive hit out of the gate, pushing her album to No. 1 and helping her win two Grammy Awards in 1997.
Radio was slow to come on board, with “Blue” barely making the top ten and second single “Hurt Me” going top thirty. But the sales were undeniable, and with her third single, she finally got a No. 1 airplay hit to go with her chart-topping album success.
“One Way Ticket (Because I Can)” is far from the best LeAnn Rimes single. Her output from 2005 on has been especially excellent.
But it’s a very good single nonetheless, demonstrating that she could credibly sing contemporary material that expresses experiences more consistent with young adulthood than the early teenage years she was actually living at the time.
It’s co-written by eighties country star Judy Rodman, who coincidentally also had only one No. 1 single.
It’s a bit strange that this is the only time we’re seeing LeAnn Rimes during this feature, given she was one of the genre’s top sellers from 1996 through the end of the decade.
But when it came to female artists, radio didn’t always follow the lead of what its listeners were demonstrating they loved with their hard-earned dollars. And the second half of the nineties is still as good as it ever got for women on the radio.
Rimes remained a major presence on the country charts throughout the nineties and the following decade, regularly scoring top ten hits and her albums selling platinum or better. She also had some massive pop crossover hits, including with her version of a 1997 Trisha Yearwood No.1 country hit, and her wildly popular international hit, “Can’t Fight the Moonlight.”
Rimes recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of her Blue album, and she remains an active recording artist, with her more recent work garnering the strongest critical notices of her career. She’s currently prepping the release of her seventeenth full-length studio album, God’s Work, which is scheduled for September 2022.
Video
Lyrics
Standing on the border
Looking out into the great unknown
I can feel my heart beating faster as I step out on my own
There’s a new horizon and the promise of favorable wind
I’m heading out tonight, traveling light
I’m gonna start all over again
And buy a one way ticket on a westbound train
See how far I can go (because I can)
I’m gonna go out dancing in the pouring rain
And talk to someone I don’t know (because I can)
I will face the world around me
Knowing that I’m strong enough to let you go
And I will fall in love again
Because I can
Gonna climb the mountain
And look the eagle in the eye
I won’t let fear clip my wings and tell me how high I can fly
How could I have ever believed
That love had to be so blind
When freedom was waiting, down at the station
All I had to do was make up my mind
And buy a one way ticket on a westbound train
See how far I can go (because I can)
I’m gonna go out dancing in the pouring rain
And talk to someone I don’t know (because I can)
I will face the world around me
Knowing that I’m strong enough to let you go
And I will fall in love again
Because I can
Well, I have walked through the fire
And crawled on my knees through the valley of the shadow of doubt
Then the truth came shining like a light on me, and now I can see my way out
I’m gonna buy a one way ticket on a westbound train
See how far I can go (because I can)
I’m gonna go out dancing in the pouring rain
And talk to someone I don’t know
I’m gonna buy a one way ticket on a westbound train
Gonna have my breakfast with some pink champagne
I’m gonna sail the ocean, I’m gonna spread my wings
Gonna climb that mountain
Gonna do everything