THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG

 "MY INFINITE LOVE"

(Byron Hill/Billy Yates/Annette Grossberg)

"In July of 2003, Annette Grossberg (who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer) approached Billy Yates (her neighbor), requesting that Billy write a song for her own funeral. Annette wanted a song that would express her love for her family, and express her continuing love for them after she was gone. Billy brought the idea to me at our writing session. Magically, the words and music fell into place for us. Billy played the song for Annette immediately after the song was completed, and within the same week, the song was demoed at County Q Studios. Annette passed away only a day or two later and the song was sung by Billy at Annette's funeral. Not long after that, Rusty Gaston (Billy's publisher at Song Garden) pitched the song to Mike Owens for George Strait. Two months later George Strait recorded the song! We wrote this song for Annette. Not once during the writing session did Billy or I ever think of or discuss who could possibly record it. That's the beauty of the story, that a song written purely to bring some happiness into Annette's final days would find it's way onto a great artist's album. We're hoping the story of Annette and how the song was created gets heard by all as well. Another good sign for this song came shortly after Annette's funeral, when someone requested that it be sung at a wedding. You can also read Billy Yates' comments on the story (below)." -BH

There have been so many requests for the lyric that we have posted it here.

MY INFINITE LOVE

(Byron Hill/Billy Yates/Annette Grossberg)

WHEN YOU SEE A SHOOTING STAR

IN THE NIGHT

WHEN YOU HEAR THE WARM WIND WHISPER

THROUGH THE PINES

I WANT YOU TO KNOW

IT'LL BE ME

AND MY INFINITE LOVE FOR YOU

IT'S JUST LIKE I PROMISED YOU

UNDER HEAVEN ABOVE

IT WILL LIVE ON

LONG AFTER WE KISS GOODBYE

FOREVER BY YOUR SIDE

MY INFINITE LOVE

WHEN YOU THINK SOMEONE IS CALLING

OUT YOUR NAME

WHEN YOU FEEL THAT KIND OF FEELING

YOU CAN'T EXPLAIN

NOW YOU WILL KNOW

(REPEAT CHORUS)

I WANT YOU TO KNOW

(REPEAT CHORUS)

MY INFINITE LOVE

© 2003 WB Music Corp./Fool Hearted Melodies (ASCAP)/Warner Tamerlane Publishing Corp./Green Ivy Music (BMI). Used by Permission. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.

The May 13, 2003 issue of Country Weekly published the story

as well in the Scene & Heard section on page 11.

The June 12th issue of USA Today stated "...the bittersweet My Infinite Love - written for the funeral of a songwriter's friend - shows that Strait still possesses an unparalleled ear for material."

MORE OF THE STORY AS TOLD BY BILLY YATES

(from www.billyyates.com)

"Our neighbor about 4 doors up from us was diagnosed with cancer. After the removal of a brain tumor and several treatments it was evident that the doctors could do no more for her. Her destination was out of their hands."

"We were at her house one day and she asked me to read a letter that she had written to her family. The letter was titled "With Infinite Love". It was a heartfelt letter to her husband and children, just talking about all of the great things in life they'd shared and her love for them."

"During this same visit she asked me to write a song for her funeral. This was by far one of the most difficult tasks I'd ever been asked to do.  I decided to ask my friend, Byron Hill, to help me with this. Byron is a wonderful writer and I felt that he would be the guy to help me bring this one together."

"We wrote the song, "MY INFINITE LOVE" and I immediately took it to my neighbor's house. I played it for her and her family and we all cried. She thought it was beautiful. I told her that Byron and I had included her as a writer on the song. At this point she requested that any money coming to her be sent to Alive Hospice. I explained the odds of getting a song recorded, but promised to grant her wish."

"Our dear sweet friend, Annette Grossberg, passed away only a couple of weeks later. I sang it at her funeral and only a few weeks after that, it was on hold for George Strait. It remained on hold for a couple of months and on their first day in the studio, they recorded "MY INFINITE LOVE"."

"I'm sure Annette is somewhere smiling at her newfound songwriting success!"

         -Billy Yates