Success of ‘Yours If You Want It’ Is Bittersweet for Rascal Flatts

Rascal Flatts recently earned their 17th chart-topping hit with "Yours If You Want It," the debut single from their newest studio album, Back to Us. Although the trio's Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney are used to having hit singles, the success of "Yours If You Want It" is bittersweet, since one of the writers of the song, Andrew Dorff, passed away last December.

""Yours If You Want It" is just a really incredible song, first and foremost. The story behind the song is even more powerful," Rooney shared with The Boot and other reporters at a recent media event. "We recorded the song before [Dorff's death] ... We loved the song from Day One.

"But, luckily, with Andrew, before he passed -- I believe it was Jay [who] got a call from [Big Machine Label Group's senior vice president of A&R] Allison [Jones]. Allison Jones was in her office, and she had both Jonathan and Andrew there, and they were listening to the song, the recording we made of the song," Rooney adds. "They loved it. Andrew was so just 100-percent in -- loved it. He was so warm and sweet with his words about us recording that song. And from there, we just felt like that was the song to go with for the first single."

No one could have predicted Dorff's tragic death, but the Flatts insist that the song would be just as special to them if he was still alive because of the message in the lyrics.

"Amazingly enough, I think everything Rascal Flatts is about is written inside that song," boasts Rooney. "It’s an uptempo song, it’s a lot of fun. If you really dissect the lyrics and listen to it, it’s a really great -- a lot of meat on the bone song, much like a ballad."

"Yours If You Want It" is available for download on iTunes.

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