"God Bless the Child" | ||||
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Single by Shania Twain | ||||
from the album The Woman in Me | ||||
B-side | "If It Don't Take Two" | |||
Released | October 26, 1996 | |||
Format | Radio single Maxi single 5" CD single 7" vinyl single cassette single |
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Recorded | 1994 (Album Version) 1996 (Single Version) |
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Genre | Gospel, country | |||
Length | 3:49 | |||
Label | PolyGram/Mercury Nashville | |||
Songwriter(s) |
Robert John "Mutt" Lange, Shania Twain |
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Producer(s) | Robert John "Mutt" Lange | |||
Shania Twain singles chronology | ||||
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"God Bless the Child" is a song co-written and recorded by Canadian country music artist Shania Twain. It was released in October 1996 as the eighth and final single from her 1995 album The Woman in Me. The song was written by Twain and an extended version co-written by Mutt Lange. The song became Twain's first single off The Woman in Me to not hit the top 40 at country radio. The original album version is more a poem than a song, done completely a cappella. For radio airplay, the song had to be expanded lyrically and musically. It was included on Twain's Come on Over Tour usually accompanied by a local choir, and on Australian and Asian tour editions of the Come On Over album, but was not included on her 2004 Greatest Hits release. All singles sales from the United States were donated to Second Harvest/Kids Cafe, and from Canada to Breakfast for Learning. Twain performed the song at the 1996 Country Music Association Awards.
Entertainment Weekly gave the song a fairly favorable review, giving it a B grade and saying "while her sentiments are pretty naive, her pipes sound plenty experienced" and that Twain gives "enough passion to make us temporarily forget her pinup looks".
The music video for "God Bless the Child" was shot in Nashville, Tennessee and directed by Larry Jordan It was filmed on October 3, 1996 and debuted on October 26, 1996 on CMT. The video features two choirs. One included the Fisk University Jubilee Singers and the second was a local performing arts choirs singing along with Twain in a hangar at the Nashville airport. Two versions of the video were released, one with the banjo included in the audio for country stations, another without for pop and international stations. The "banjo version" video is available on Twain's DVD The Platinum Collection.