- published: 21 Jun 2009
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"Amazed" is a song written by Marv Green, Aimee Mayo, and Chris Lindsey. The first version of the song was recorded by the American country music group Lonestar, whose version was released in March 1999 as the second single from their 1999 album Lonely Grill. Lonestar's version is their longest-lasting No. 1 single and biggest hit, spending eight weeks at the top of the Billboard country chart. A remix of the song made it reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts in 2000. The song has sold over 1,628,000 copies in the US as of December 2015.
Only five years after Lonestar's "Amazed" topped the Billboard Hot 100 did another country song top the chart, as Carrie Underwood's "Inside Your Heaven" debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 2005. "Amazed" and "Inside Your Heaven" went on to become the only country songs in the 2000s decade to hit No. 1 on the Hot 100.
Since the release of the original, the song has been covered by Bonnie Tyler, Duncan James, and Fady Maalouf, all of whom have released their respective versions as singles. Ben Mills, Boyz II Men and Shane Filan have included covers in their respective albums. On The Sing-Off (season 4, episode 3), judge Shawn Stockman, of Boyz II Men fame, mentioned that the song had been offered to them first, and they decided to turn it down.
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, will eventually rise to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called "separators". In many countries, cream is sold in several grades depending on the total butterfat content. Cream can be dried to a powder for shipment to distant markets. Cream has high levels of saturated fat.
Cream skimmed from milk may be called "sweet cream" to distinguish it from whey cream skimmed from whey, a by-product of cheese-making. Whey cream has a lower fat content and tastes more salty, tangy and "cheesy". In many countries, cream is usually sold partially fermented: sour cream, crème fraîche, and so on.
Cream has many culinary uses in both sweet and salty dishes.
Cream produced by cattle (particularly Jersey cattle) grazing on natural pasture often contains some natural carotenoid pigments derived from the plants they eat; this gives the cream a slight yellow tone, hence the name of the yellowish-white color, cream. This is also the origin of butter's yellow color. Cream from goat's milk, or from cows fed indoors on grain or grain-based pellets, is white.