About The Song
“Love the World Away” is a ballad written by Bob Morrison and Johnny Wilson and recorded by American singer Kenny Rogers. Liberty Records released it as a single on June 23, 1980, crediting it as being from the double-LP Urban Cowboy: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. On the 7-inch single, the song was backed with “Sayin’ Goodbye/Requiem: Goin’ Home to Rock.” Running about 3:11, it appears on side D of the soundtrack set and sits in Rogers’ singles chronology between “Don’t Fall in Love with a Dreamer” and “Lady,” marking one of his key releases of 1980.
The song was recorded during the sessions for the Urban Cowboy soundtrack, a project overseen by executive producer Irving Azoff and issued by Full Moon/Asylum in June 1980. The album assembled new and existing tracks by country and rock artists including Johnny Lee, Mickey Gilley, Anne Murray, Boz Scaggs, Linda Ronstadt, the Eagles and others. It became a major commercial success, topping Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, reaching the Top 3 of the Billboard 200 and eventually earning multi-platinum certification. Within that lineup, “Love the World Away” served as the Kenny Rogers contribution alongside hits such as “Lookin’ for Love,” “Stand by Me” and “Could I Have This Dance.”
Production credits on the single identify Larry Butler as producer, continuing the partnership that had already yielded “Lucille,” “The Gambler” and other hits. Session accounts describe the track as a Nashville-cut recording using a live rhythm section, multiple acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards and string arrangements to give it a polished, soft-rock sheen on top of its country foundation. Veteran producer and engineer Billy Sherrill is cited in later summaries as having handled recording and mixing duties, with players such as Billy Sanford, Jimmy Capps, Ray Edenton and Hargus “Pig” Robbins among the musicians involved.
The lyric presents a couple stepping away from everyday pressures. Verses open with lines like “Every now and then, when the world steps in, stealin’ all our time away” and go on to describe how work and outside demands cause people to “forget to touch.” The singer answers this by inviting his partner to “take my hand, let’s walk through love’s door and be free from the world once more,” suggesting that they can temporarily escape by focusing on each other. Repeated phrases about hearts being free, time to share and “all the magic waiting there” keep the theme centered on carving out a private space in the middle of a busy life.
Musically, “Love the World Away” is a mid-tempo, smooth country-pop ballad. Contemporary descriptions and later write-ups emphasize its gentle rhythm, warm keyboard textures and string lines supporting Rogers’ lead vocal, with the overall sound fitting comfortably alongside his other crossover singles of the period. The arrangement is restrained rather than showy, keeping the focus on the melody and on Rogers’ phrasing. This balance between country instrumentation and soft-rock production made it suitable for both country radio and adult-contemporary playlists, in line with the broader crossover strategy behind the Urban Cowboy project.
Chart performance was strong across several formats. In the United States the single reached No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart, No. 14 on the Hot 100 and No. 8 on the Adult Contemporary chart, making it a Top 5 country hit and Top 20 pop hit. In Canada it peaked at No. 25 on the RPM Top Singles chart and climbed to No. 1 on the RPM Country Tracks listing. These results placed it among the most successful tracks drawn from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack and added another substantial crossover entry to Rogers’ catalogue in a year that also produced the No. 1 single “Lady.”
Later in 1980, “Love the World Away” was included on Rogers’ blockbuster compilation Greatest Hits, one of three tracks on that album that had not appeared on his earlier studio LPs. That compilation topped both the U.S. pop and country album charts and was eventually certified 12× Platinum in the United States, giving the song further exposure beyond the film tie-in. Since then, “Love the World Away” has appeared on multiple best-of collections and digital anthologies, and it continues to feature on playlists that highlight the crossover sound of late-1970s and early-1980s Kenny Rogers.
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Lyric
Every now and then when the world steps in
Stealing all our time away
It soon takes so much
We forget to touch
That’s when I know it’s time for me to say
Take my hand
Let’s walk through love’s door
And be free from the world once more
Here’s my arms
We can hide today
And love the world away
Once again we’ll be where our hearts are free
And the time is ours to share
Love will always stay just a touch away
Come with me
All the magic’s waiting there
Take my hand
Let’s walk through love’s door
And be free from the world once more
Here’s my arms
We can hide today
And love the world away
We can love the world away