It was like, 'This is a really good chorus!' As a matter of fact, I got sent the song, and I listened to it and I liked it, but it didn't stick, and so I passed on the song, and about a week later, I woke up very early one morning singing the chorus of this song. And I'm not saying it's bad - these are great songwriters, so it wasn't bad, it didn't speak to me. And then we were off and running to the song.

And so I sat down to write the verses, and that was the first thing that came out: 'Saw the Man in Black / Spotlight in the air / Heard a thousand screams / Saw my dad stare'. So, when I got sent this song, the song was already written, but I didn't really like the verses of the song, so I asked the writers if I could write my own verses and eliminate the ones that they'd written and just keep the chorus of the song. What's that guy doing out there to get my dad's attention like that?' I'm sure a child psychologist would probably say it was my wish he'd stared at me like that, you know? Like, 'I've never gotten that stare. And I remember the screaming of the crowd, and then I remember, at one point, my dad's expression - like, staring at this guy onstage in a way I'd never seen him stare at somebody - like, transfixed. 'Cause when you're a kid, you're like, 'Wow, that thing's amazing!'. I remember this big spotlight going across. And so it was a rowdy, raucous, awesome crowd. You know, you're five years old and just packed in this arena. I was so mesmerized by how loud everybody was. Where I was raised was a very working-class city - very rural, very working-class people, so party hard, work hard, drink hard - everything was just full-on, and my dad was like that. I remember little bits and pieces of that concert: I remember, just, people - lots and lots of tall people.

That's the loudest, drunkest group of people I had ever been around, and it was exciting, you know? That was a profound first concert for anybody, let alone a 5-year-old, going to see Johnny Cash. That concert has, for whatever reasons - I guess everybody's first concert always stays with you through your life, you know?. Below, the country star shares the full story behind 'Wild Hearts' in his own words, as told to Taste of Country Nights. The first verse, in particular, derives from an early childhood memory of Urban's: attending a Johnny Cash concert with his father.

Wild hearts can t be broken lyrics