When You Say Nothing at All

"When You Say Nothing at All" is a country song written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz. It was a hit song for four different performers: Keith Whitley, who took it to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart on December 24, 1988; Alison Krauss & Union Station, whose version was their first solo top-10 country hit in 1995; Irish singer Frances Black, whose 1996 version became her third Irish top-10 single and brought the song to the attention of Irish pop singer Ronan Keating, whose 1999 version was his first solo single and a number-one hit in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and New Zealand.

"When You Say Nothing at All"

"Lucky Dog"

1988

Country

3:40

RCA

Garth Fundis
Keith Whitley

Origin[edit]

Songwriters Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz came up with "When You Say Nothing at All" at the end of an otherwise unproductive day. Strumming a guitar, trying to write their next song, they were coming up empty. "As we tried to find another way to say nothing, we came up with the song", Overstreet later told author Ace Collins. They thought the song was OK, but nothing special.^[1] When Keith Whitley heard it, he loved it, and was not going to let it get away.^[1] Earlier, he had recorded another Overstreet-Schlitz composition that became a No. 1 hit for another artist - Randy Travis' "On the Other Hand." Whitley did not plan to let "When You Say Nothing at All" meet the same fate.^[1]^[2]