“It was too sappy, too slow, the lyric made the singer sound too old, so on and so forth.”įive years after its completion, Aldridge played “I Loved Her First” at a solo show in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. “We had heard every reason for passes,” says Aldridge. Upon its completion, Park and Aldridge were sure they had a major hit on their hands, but getting the song recorded proved to be a much more difficult task than they had anticipated. “It never would have seen the light of day without him.” “Walt showed me how to write a hit song that day,” says Park. After his first two ideas didn’t garner much interest from Aldridge, Park took to the piano and sang the only two lines of a song he had started a year and a half prior, the song that would eventually become “I Loved Her First.”Īlthough Park brought the idea to the session, he realizes that without Aldridge, “I Loved Her First” would have never existed. Park says because he was the less accomplished writer, it was his job to bring ideas to the table. The story of “I Loved Her First” begins in 2001 at a writing session between newcomer Elliott Park and veteran Walt Aldridge.Īldridge had been certified with five number one songs at the time Elliott Park had never written a song with another person before.
