HOW DO I LIVE

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90e8ryPDKWo]

"How Do I Live" is a 1997 song, written by Diane Warren. It was released originally byLeAnn Rimes and shortly afterward by Trisha Yearwood.

The song was originally intended for release as a single for the 1997 action blockbuster Con Air soundtrack. Warren wrote the song for Rimes to sing. The film producers felt that Rimes' version had too much of a pop feeling to it, and requested that she re-record it to fit their standards. She refused, and the producers chose Trisha Yearwood to record the song. Her more country-style version was released on May 27, 1997 and appeared in the film. When Rimes heard of the release, she quickly released her version. (Neither version is included on the Con Air soundtrack album, which is devoted entirely to the score by Trevor Rabin and Mark Mancina.)

Despite only peaking as high as number seven in the UK Singles Chart^[2], LeAnn Rimes' version of "How Do I Live" spent 34 weeks on the chart, ending up as the 6th best selling single of 1998 (therefore becoming the first song ever to have reached a higher position in the year-end chart than in the effective weekly top 40, an achievement which has only been accomplished one more time in 2010 when Eminem's number-two single "Love The Way You Lie" featuring Rihanna resulted number-one in the annual ranking.^{[citation needed]}). It set a record for staying on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 69 weeks, a record it held for over 11 years before being beaten by Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" in 2009. The song entered the Top 25 Country singles sales chart on June 21, 1997 and was still there in February 2003, a record 291 weeks (five and half years) later.

"How Do I Live" was covered by F.I.R. (Faye and Real featuring LeAnn Rimes). F.I.R. invited Rimes to record a portion of the song for their third album Flight Tribe in 2006.

A cover of the song was also recorded for MS Paint Adventures, where both the song and the final scene of Con Air are frequently referenced, acted out, or parodied. The webcomic has reenacted the scene with the song on several different occasions, and one of the characters even fell in love with Nicolas Cage by watching the scene onYouTube.

The song has also been performed on the hit show American Idol, Vonzell Solomon in Season 4, Paris Bennett in Season 5, and Meosha Denton in Season 2. It was also part of American Idol Season 2 compilation, sung by Carmen Rasmusen.

Rimes' version ranks at #4 on Billboard's All Time Top 100.^[3] The single has been certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA for shipments of over 3 million copies in the United States,^[4] becoming the best-selling country song the date, and surpassed twelve years later by "Love Story" from country singer Taylor Swift, which certified 4x Platinum for shipments of over 4 million copies to date. On the digital front, it routinely shifts more than 1,000 units per week, for a to-date total in excess of 203,000.