“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you,
say what you've got to say, and say it hot.”

- D. H. Lawrence
 (11 Sept 1885 - 02 Mar 1930)

Overstreet and Schlitz came up with "When You Say Nothing at All" at the end of an otherwise unproductive day. Strumming a guitar, trying to write their next song, they were coming up empty. "As we tried to find another way to say nothing, we came up with the song," Overstreet later told author Ace Collins. They thought the song was OK, but nothing special.^[1] When Keith Whitley heard it, he loved it, and was not going to let it get away.^[1] Earlier, he had recorded another Overstreet-Schlitz composition that became a No. 1 hit for another artist - Randy Travis' "On the Other Hand." Whitley did not plan to let "When You Say Nothing at All" meet the same fate.^[1][2]

RCA released "When You Say Nothing at All" as the follow-up single to the title song of Whitley's Don't Close Your Eyes album. The former song already had hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, his first chart-topper after three prior singles made the top 10.^[3] "When You Say Nothing at All" entered the Hot Country Singles chart on September 17, 1988, at No. 61, and gradually rose to the top, where it stayed for two weeks at the end of the year.^[1][2] It was the second of five consecutive chart-topping singles for Whitley, who did not live to see the last two, as he died on May 9, 1989 of alcohol poisoning.^[3] "Keith did a great job singin' that song," co-composer Schlitz told author Tom Roland. "He truly sang it from the heart."^[2] In 2004, Whitley's original was ranked 12th among CMT's 100 Greatest Love Songs.^[4] It was sung by Sara Evans on the show.