Music Friday: Tommy Proposes With a Class Ring in 1991’s ‘She’s in Love With the Boy’

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. In Trisha Yearwood’s chart-topping single, “She’s In Love With the Boy,” the parking lot of a Tastee-Freez is the setting for the class-ring marriage proposal of a smitten teen.

Written by Jon Ims and released on Yearwood’s self-titled debut album in 1991, “She’s In Love With the Boy” chronicles the love story of Katie and Tommy — teenage sweethearts living in a one-horse town. Tommy loves speeding around town in his beat-up pickup truck.

Katie’s dad isn’t impressed by the young man’s showboating, claiming, “When it comes to brains, he got the short end of the stick.”

Still, Katie doesn’t care what her dad thinks. She’d follow Tommy anywhere. Even if they have to run away together, “she’s going to marry that boy someday.”

Katie finally gets her wish when her lovestruck boyfriend proposes after a romantic evening at a drive-in movie.

Yearwood sings, “Later on outside the Tastee-Freez / Tommy slips something on her hand / He says my high school ring will have to do / ‘Til I can buy a wedding band.”

Katie’s dad is furious when Tommy and Katie come sneaking up the walk at half past 12. He orders Katie to go to her room and is just about to give Tommy a piece of his mind when Katie’s mom intervenes. She reminds her husband that he and Tommy are very much alike. Her own father disapproved of their relationship and mocked her then-boyfriend as a hay-seed plowboy who didn’t have a row to hoe.

“But he was wrong and, honey, you are too,” Yearwood sings. “Katie looks at Tommy like I still look at you.”

When “She’s In Love With the Boy” topped the U.S. Billboard Country chart, Yearwood became the first female singer to reach #1 with her debut single. The song would help rocket her to stardom.

Patricia Lynn “Trisha” Yearwood was born in 1964 in Monticello, Ga., to a school teacher mom and a banker dad. She got her big break as a 21-year-old when she interned for — and was then hired by — MTM Records, which was founded by the late Mary Tyler Moore. While working for MTM, Yearwood sang background vocals for new artists, including Garth Brooks.

“I got work based on the fact that I showed up on time, I worked cheap, I knew the songs when I got there and I sang on pitch,” Yearwood told People magazine in 2015.

The 55-year-old Yearwood has been a cast member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1999. Her work has earned three Grammy Awards, three awards from the Academy of Country Music and three awards from the Country Music Association. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide.

In 2005, she married Brooks, her longtime friend and collaborator. Brooks admitted on The Ellen Show that there had always been an undeniable chemistry between the pair.

Her Food Network cooking show, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, won a 2013 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Culinary Program and is now in its 12th season.

Please check out Yearwood’s live performance of “She’s In Love With the Boy.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“She’s In Love With the Boy”
Written by Jon Ims. Performed by Trisha Yearwood.

Katie’s sittin’ on the old front porch
Watchin’ the chickens peck the ground
There ain’t a whole lot goin’ on tonight
In this one-horse town
Over yonder comin’ up the road
In a beat-up Chevy truck
Her boyfriend Tommy, he’s layin’ on the horn
Splashin’ through the mud and the muck

Her daddy says he ain’t worth a lick
When it comes to brains, he got the short end of the stick
But Katie’s young and man, she just don’t care
She’d follow Tommy anywhere

She’s in love with the boy
She’s in love with the boy
She’s in love with the boy
And even if they have to run away
She’s gonna marry that boy someday

Katie and Tommy at the drive-in movie
Parked in the very last row
They’re too busy holdin’ on to one another
To even care about the show
Later on outside the Tastee-Freez
Tommy slips something on her hand
He says my high school ring will have to do
‘Til I can buy a wedding band

Her daddy says he ain’t worth a lick
When it comes to brains, he got the short end of the stick
But Katie’s young and man, she just don’t care
She’d follow Tommy anywhere

She’s in love with the boy
She’s in love with the boy
She’s in love with the boy
And even if they have to run away
She’s gonna marry that boy someday

Her daddy’s waitin’ up ’til half past twelve
When they come sneakin’ up the walk
He says young lady get on up to your room
While me and Junior have a talk
Mama breaks in, says don’t lose your temper
It wasn’t very long ago
When you yourself was just a hay-seed plowboy
Who didn’t have a row to hoe

My daddy said you wasn’t worth a lick
When it came to brains you got the short end of the stick
But he was wrong and, honey, you are too
Katie looks at Tommy like I still look at you

She’s in love with the boy
She’s in love with the boy
She’s in love with the boy
What’s meant to be will always find a way

She’s in love with the boy
She’s in love with the boy
She’s in love with the boy
What’s meant to be will always find a way
She’s gonna marry that boy someday

She’s in love with the boy

Credit: DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley / Public domain.

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