"She Never Cried in Front of Me" is a single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 country music singer Toby Keith

Toby Keith

Toby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...

 co-written by him and Bobby Pinson

Bobby Pinson

Bobby Olen Pinson is an American country music artist. Signed to RCA Records in 2005, Pinson made his debut that year with his album Man Like Me. Its lead-off single, "Don't Ask Me How I Know", peaked at #16 on the Hot Country Songs charts, and was his only Top 40 country hit...

. It was released in July 2008 as the first single for his studio album, That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy

That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy

That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy is the twelfth studio release from American country music artist Toby Keith. The album was released October 28, 2008 on Show Dog Nashville, Keith's own label, and was produced by Keith himself. He wrote or co-wrote all the songs on this album, collaborating with Bobby...

, released on October 28. For the week of November 1, 2008, the song has become his 17th Number One hit on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 chart.

Content

The song is a mid-tempo ballad in which the narrator watches his former lover getting married. Upon doing so, he sees her crying, which makes him think of "all the hell" he put her through when they were together, thinking that nothing was wrong with her, because she "never cried in front of [him]".

Bobby Pinson wrote the song with Keith at Keith's house in mid-2007. According to Pinson, he sat down at Keith's piano and the two started working on the song there. According to Keith, it was the first time that he ever sat down at a piano to write a song, and he thought that it "changed everything. It brought a whole new approach to the melody."

Reception

The song received a "thumbs down" review from the country music site The 9513. Reviewer Brady Vercher stated that the "lyric fleshes out too many irrelevant details that end up creating all sorts of logical fallacies", and that the song was generally over-produced. He also considered it derivative of Tracy Lawrence

Tracy Lawrence

Tracy Lawrence is an American country music artist. He started at a country music restaurant called "Live At Libby's" where owner Libby Knight would help local talent find their way into country music...

's 1994 hit "I See It Now

I See It Now (song)

"I See It Now" is the title of a song written by Larry Boone, Paul Nelson, and Woody Lee. It was recorded by American country music artist Tracy Lawrence. It was released in August 1994 as the lead-off single from his album of the same name. It peaked at number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country...

", which also features a storyline based on a man's realization of "all the hell" he has put a former lover through.

Chart performance

Chart (2008)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	42
Canadian Hot 100	57