About The Song
“All My Life” is a country-pop ballad recorded by Kenny Rogers and released as a single in April 1983. Written by Dave Robbins, Jeff Silbar and Van Stephenson, it appears on Rogers’ fourteenth studio album, We’ve Got Tonight, issued by Liberty Records on February 11, 1983. The track runs just under four minutes (most listings give 3:49–3:55) and was produced by David Foster together with Rogers. It became the second single taken from the album, following the duet version of Bob Seger’s “We’ve Got Tonight” and preceding the 1983 single “Scarlet Fever.”
We’ve Got Tonight was recorded at several studios in Los Angeles and Nashville, including Lion Share Recording, Creative Workshop and Hitsville U.S.A., and marked Rogers’ final album for Liberty before he moved to RCA. The LP combined outside material with songs written by prominent pop and country writers of the early 1980s. Track listings place “All My Life” on the second side of the original vinyl release, sitting between “Bad Enough” and “How Long.” The album itself reached No. 3 on the U.S. country albums chart and No. 18 on the Billboard 200, eventually earning platinum certification in both the United States and Canada.
Robbins, Silbar and Stephenson were part of the Nashville and Los Angeles songwriting circles that supplied material to many country and adult-contemporary artists at the time. Robbins and Stephenson would later be associated with the country band BlackHawk, while Silbar co-wrote several well-known songs for other performers. In interviews and song-background features, they describe “All My Life” as being written specifically with Rogers’ crossover audience in mind: a melody that could sit comfortably on pop radio, and a lyric that would still fit country playlists.
The recording reflects that blend. Session information from producer and fan notes credits Rogers on lead vocal, with David Foster on keyboards and synthesizers, and Los Angeles studio guitarists such as Steve Lukather and Marty Walsh handling electric and acoustic parts. The arrangement uses electric piano, layered guitars, bass, drums and subtle string textures, typical of Foster’s early-1980s production style. The tempo is medium-slow, with the band kept in the background so that Rogers’ vocal and the chorus hook carry most of the song’s impact.
The lyric is written from the perspective of someone who feels an unusually deep connection with another person. The narrator wonders if they have known each other “in another time, another place,” and describes how this new relationship feels both surprising and familiar. Lines about being understood “better than I know myself” and wanting to love the other person “all my life” frame the song as a declaration of long-term commitment rather than a brief romance. There is no detailed storyline or named characters; instead the text stays with broad images of recognition, security and the sense that this love might have been destined.
On release, “All My Life” performed well across several charts. In the United States it reached No. 13 on the Billboard country singles chart, climbed to No. 2 on the Adult Contemporary chart and peaked at No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-1983. In Canada it went to No. 3 on the RPM Country Tracks chart and also made a strong showing on adult-contemporary playlists. Over time the track has appeared on numerous compilations, including best-of sets and love-song collections that survey Rogers’ romantic material from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Within his catalogue it is often grouped with songs such as “A Love Song,” “Love Will Turn You Around” and “You Decorated My Life” as part of the run of ballads that secured his reputation with country and pop audiences alike.
Video
Lyric
Are you sure I
Haven’t loved you somewhere before
In another time, another place
On some distant shore?You know me so well
Better than I know myselfAnd you loved me tonight (tonight)
Like you loved me all my life
All my lifeAnd with the touch of your hand
You took me farther than I’ve never been
You love me like
You’ve loved me all my lifeLove like we made
Could have taken a lifetime to find
But you found the way
To my heart in a moment of timeYou know how to care
Just like you’ve always been there
(Just like you’ve always been there)
Just like you’ve always been thereAnd you loved me tonight (tonight)
Like you loved me all my life
All my lifeAnd with the touch of your hand
You took me farther than I’ve never been
You love me like
You’ve loved me all my lifeWith the touch of your hand
You took me farther than I’ve never been
You love me like
You’ve loved me all my lifeYou love me like
You’ve loved me all my life