In 1982, Alabama released “Close Enough to Perfect” as the third single off their album Mountain Music. It became the country music band’s eighth No. 1 country hit as it ranked atop Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
The song helped Alabama become the first country act to earn quadruple-platinum status. The band achieved the feat when two more tracks from Mountain Music, along with three more Alabama songs from their sophomore record, landed at the top of the charts.
The Story Behind The Song
“Close Enough to Perfect” was written by Carl Chambers, who was then the lead guitarist of the pop and country music duo Bellamy Brothers. Chambers used to work a little carpentry for the Bellamy Brothers, wherein he installed cedar paneling in a tour bus they purchased. Chambers enlisted the help of his wife Nancy, and apparently, every time Chambers would install a piece of paneling, Nancy would find something wrong with it.
When it happened once more, Chambers jested, “It’s close enough to perfect for me.” The two looked at each other as they knew they had landed a great hook line for a song.
“Close Enough to Perfect,” tells the story of a man who finds everything his woman does as perfect. She may make coffee too strong, she may say all the wrong things, she may get down and begin to cry, she may have a sleepy smile – still, she’s perfect to him. After all, she’s everything he ever wanted.
“Don’t you worry about my woman and what you think she ought to be. She’s close enough to perfect for me,” the song goes.
Make sure to listen to “Close Enough to Perfect” by Alabama in the video below.