It was 4 a.m. on a foggy, cold morning when Christian Country artist Jackie Cox made the two-hour drive home from his recording studio in Dallas, feeling frustrated and anxious. After a year of cutting songs and 19 straight hours of recording, he knew that his album wasn’t complete. One of the songs just didn’t flow with the rest of the CD, and the producers agreed he needed one last song to finish the album.

Little did he know that the missing piece he needed, a song written by BYU professor Quint Randle, was waiting at home in his mailbox. This missing piece, Randle’s song “I Love You Son,” now holds the number one spot on Power Source magazine’s top 20 list, a position previously held by Tim McGraw.

“After hearing just the first verse and the chorus I was hooked,” Cox said. “I knew this was the song we needed to complete the album.”

Cox said he knew the first time he heard it that the song would be a hit, but didn’t realize it would climb the charts so quickly. “I Love You Son” rocketed to number one on the top 100 chart within months of its radio release.

“‘I Love You Son’ is receiving widespread air play on Christian Country stations across the United States and Europe, and many mainstream country stations are playing the song as well,” said publisher Cliff Shelder of SME Music.

Randle is not only a songwriter but also a five-year professor at BYU who teaches feature writing, news writing and publication design classes in BYU’s communications department. Randle said that songwriting is a fun way to “moderate your dreams with reality.”

Randle wrote the song with Jeff Hinton of Lehi and Patricia Smith of Nashville.

“I Love You Son” is the story of a man who finds himself through prayer, Randle said. It depicts the unconditional love of a father for a wayward son, symbolizing the love of our Heavenly Father for us.

Randle said he is happy with the song’s success and hopes that it continues to inspire listeners.

“It’s just nice that the song is out there touching people,” Randle said. “Songwriting isn’t about writing for the masses, it’s about writing for the one. That is what we tried to do.”

Randle estimates that he has written around 75 songs in his life, a few of which are featured in a new, local movie “Believe.” Randle lives in Orem with his wife and four children.



Copyright Brigham Young University 11 Oct 2005