The idea for “Forever And Ever, Amen” was obtained from the combination of a prayer and an exclamation of love. As Don’s wife would tuck their young son into bed at night, the boy would say his prayers and finish up by saying, “Mommy, I love you forever and ever, amen.” Thinking about the sweet innocence in that childhood message, Don took the idea to Paul.
On a warm evening, the two men sat out on Overstreet’s front porch at sundown and began to write. When it became too dark to see, they lit candles, thinking the porch light would attract too many bugs. By candlelight, it became a strain to see well enough to write out the words on a legal pad, but knowing all along that the song was going to be a smash kept the guys motivated to keep writing even with the extremely dim light. In a couple of hours, “Forever And Ever, Amen” was finished, and they went in the next day and recorded a very sparse demo on it, with just voice and guitar.
The two guys high-tailed it over to Warner Bros. offices to play the demo for label executive Martha Sharp, who screened most of the material earmarked for Randy Travis. She agreed that the song would be an immediate hit. Travis loved it, instantly scheduling studio time to record the number for a new album project he and his producer Kyle Lehning were working on, as yet untitled. As Randy and Kyle listened to “Forever And Ever, Amen,” they realized, after some brief thought, that they had the title of Travis’s second album staring them right in the face: “Always And Forever.”