FIRST NIGHT HE SANG A SONG HE NEVER PLANNED TO RECORD — THE PENTAGON, 2002 — HE WROTE IT IN 20 MINUTES FOR A MAN WHO WOULDN’T HEAR IT. Nobody told Toby Keith his father would be gone before the song was finished. March 24, 2001. H.K. Covel — Army veteran, right eye lost in uniform, flag in the front yard every day of his life — crossed a median on I-35 and never came home. Five months later, the towers fell. Toby wrote it in twenty minutes. “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.” He said out loud he’d never release it. It was for his dad. The first time he sang it was for the Marines at the Pentagon. General James L. Jones was in the room. When the last note landed, Jones walked up and told him flat — recording this song wasn’t a choice. It was a duty. Four months later it was No. 1. What Toby said about his father the night it hit the top of the chart is the part nobody ever tells you.
THE SONG TOBY KEITH NEVER MEANT TO RELEASE There are songs that are written for radio. There are songs written…