About The Song
“Wide Open Spaces” had such a powerful impact, and still does, because it was the first single to perfectly meld the Chicks’ image of female empowerment with a song aligned with those values.
By centering the story of a young girl leaving home, “Wide Open Spaces” became an anthem for their quickly growing fan base. There had been some country hits that had spoken to the experience of young girls on the cusp of womanhood before – a “She’s in Love With the Boy” here, a “Letting Go” there – but there had never been a song just about them. There’s no love interest here, and only a passing line references the departing young woman’s parents as she leaves them behind.
We’re struggling right now in mainstream country music because of the stories that aren’t being told, with few songs deviating from the perspective of the stereotypical country boy. “Wide Open Spaces” was a huge step forward in 1998, and felt like a sign of greater things to come.
You can tell the story of that potential and how it all fell apart simply by telling the story of the Chicks. Hearing them sing ‘Wide Open Spaces” now, there’s a undercurrent of melancholy that tempers the wide-eyed optimism of their original hit.
But the fact that it is the only song from their first album still regularly included in their set lists indicates the song’s enduring significance. It’s as essential a record now as it was 24 years ago.
The Chicks will top the singles chart one more time in the nineties, with the next single from this album. By the time it was sent to radio, Wide Open Spaces was triple platinum, on its way to 13 million sales and counting.
Video
Lyrics
… Who doesn’t know what I’m talking about?
Who’s never left home? Who’s never struck out?
To find a dream and a life of their own
A place in the clouds, a foundation of stone
… Many precede and many will follow
A young girl’s dreams no longer hollow
It takes the shape of a place out West
But what it holds for her, she hasn’t yet guessed
… She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the high stakes
… She traveled this road as a child
Wide-eyed and grinning, she never tired
But now she won’t be coming back with the rest
If these are life’s lessons, she’ll take this test
… She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the high stakes
She knows the high stakes
… And as her folks drive away, her dad yells, “Check the oil!”
Mom stares out the window and says, “I’m leavin’ my girl”
She said, “It didn’t seem like that long ago”
When she stood there and let her own folks know
… She needed wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the high stakes
… She knows the highest stakes
She knows the highest stakes (wide open spaces)
She knows the highest stakes
She knows the highest stakes (wide open spaces)