"Winner at a Losing Game" is a single by the American country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 group Rascal Flatts

Rascal Flatts

Rascal Flatts is an American country music band that originated in Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. Since its inception, Rascal Flatts has been composed of three members: Gary LeVox , Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney...

. It is the second single released from their album Still Feels Good

Still Feels Good

-Rascal Flatts:*Jay DeMarcus – bass guitar on all tracks, piano on "Better Now", background vocals on all tracks*Gary LeVox – lead vocals*Joe Don Rooney – electric and acoustic guitars, background vocals-Additional musicians:*Bruce Bouton – steel guitar...

, as well as their nineteenth chart single overall. Released in late 2007, the song peaked at #2 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 charts in February 2008.

The song is part of the tracklist for Now That's What I Call Country

Now That's What I Call Country

Now That's What I Call Country is a country music compilation album released on August 26, 2008. The album is the first in the Now! series to be composed exclusively of country music tracks...

.

History

Rascal Flatts' three members (Gary LeVox

Gary LeVox

Gary LeVox is the lead vocalist of American country trio Rascal Flatts. His stage name literally means "The Voice", a name he lifted from the studio-console label for his lead-vocal track....

, Jay DeMarcus

Jay DeMarcus

Jay DeMarcus is the bass guitarist, harmony vocalist, pianist and songwriter in the American country trio Rascal Flatts.DeMarcus was born in Columbus, Ohio...

, and Joe Don Rooney) wrote the song on their tour bus after a show late one night. According to DeMarcus, the trio began a conversation about their musical influences, when the Eagles, a popular soft rock

Soft rock

Soft rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock music to compose a softer, more toned-down sound. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes...

 band, was mentioned. Inspired by the fact that they would be performing with the Eagles at the 2007 Grammy Awards, the trio decided to write a song that was stylistically similar to the music of the Eagles.

All three members then began to write the song that night. They came up with a verse and chorus that, according to Country Weekly

Country Weekly

Country Weekly is an American tabloid style weekly magazine established in 1994. The magazine focuses on country music stars and events, and regularly features exclusive interviews with recording artists and country music news...

, "achingly express[es] a feeling we have all experienced — loving someone who just doesn't love you the same way". The next day, DeMarcus added the hook "If love is really forever, then I'm a winner at a losing game", and the song was soon finished.

LeVox, the lead singer of Rascal Flatts, considers the song special because it is the first single to be written entirely by the band's three members.

Chart performance

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Chart (2007-2008)	Peak position