It’s appropriate that a guy with the last name of Nichols wrote an impactful song about a coin toss.
“Heads Carolina, Tails California” — which emerged as Jo Dee Messina’s first single in 1996 — drew its inspiration from the Robert James Waller novel Border Music, in which the lead character flips a coin to decide where he should move. Tim Nichols (Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying,” Zach Top’s “I Never Lie”) suggested a song built around the same dynamic to cowriter Mark D. Sanders (Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance,” George Strait’s “Blue Clear Sky”), and they came up with the “Carolina” story featuring a young couple deciding where their next adventure should take them.
Messina cut it with producers Byron Gallimore (Faith Hill, Sugarland) and McGraw, and Curb made it her inaugural release, debuting on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart dated Jan. 27, 1996. The “Carolina” trip traveled to No. 2 on the May 18, 1996, list, just behind Brooks & Dunn’s “My Maria.” Six singles by the Holliston, Mass.-raised Messina eventually went all the way to the top, beginning with “Bye Bye” in 1998 and running through “My Give a Damn’s Busted” in 2005.
Messina’s “Carolina” journey extended even further into the future. Cole Swindell and three cowriters interpolated it for a karaoke tale, “She Had Me at Heads Carolina,” that rose to No. 3 in 2022 — and No. 1 for four weeks on Country Airplay. Swindell’s solo hit was ultimately remixed as a collaboration with Messina, and the duet brought awards nominations to both artists from the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.
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