Old Violin

Last updated
"Old Violin"
Single by Johnny Paycheck
from the album Modern Times
B-side "Come to Me" [1]
Released1986
Genre Country
Length3:42
Label Mercury
Songwriter(s) Johnny Paycheck
Producer(s) Stan Cornelius
Johnny Paycheck singles chronology
"Sexy Southern Lady"
(1986)
"Old Violin"
(1986)
"Don't Bury Me 'til I'm Ready"
(1986)

"Old Violin" is a song by American country music singer Johnny Paycheck. It is a single from his 1986 album Modern Times.

Contents

Content

"Old Violin" was recorded in the mid-1980s during Paycheck's tenure with Mercury Records. The song was among his first recordings after Paycheck had been imprisoned for aggravated assault at a bar in Hillsboro, Ohio. [2] [1] [3]

Kurt Wolff, in Country Music: The Rough Guide, describes "Old Violin" as a song in which Paycheck "faces old age with genuine trepidation". [4] The lyric features the narrator comparing himself to an "old violin, soon to be put away and never played again". [5]

Other versions

In 2002, Daryle Singletary covered "Old Violin" for his covers album That's Why I Sing This Way . Singletary wanted to include Paycheck on his recording, and had a then-ill Paycheck deliver the song's closing recitation from his hospital bed. This recording was Paycheck's last before his death in early 2003. [5] [6] George Strait covered the song on his 2019 album Honky Tonk Time Machine . [7]

Charts

Weekly chart performance for "Old Violin"
Chart (1986)Peak
position
Canada RPM Country Tracks [8] 36
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [9] 21

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References

  1. 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (2017). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2017. Record Research, Inc. pp. 293–294. ISBN   978-0-89820-229-8.
  2. Dan Cooper. "Johnny Paycheck biography". AllMusic . Retrieved September 8, 2023.
  3. Rick Schluep (May 23, 1986). "Singer Johnny Paycheck is free on bond". Greenfield Daily Times. p. 1. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
  4. Kurt Wolff (2000). Country Music: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. p. 319.
  5. 1 2 Robert K. Oermann (2008). "Johnny Paycheck". Behind the Grand Ole Opry Curtain: Tales of Romance and Tragedy. Center Street.
  6. Phyllis Stark (March 1, 2003). "Johnny Paycheck dead at 64". Billboard. p. 6.
  7. "Everything We Know About George Strait's New Album, 'Honky Tonk Time Machine'". The Boot. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  8. "RPM Country Tracks" (PDF). RPM: 12. August 16, 1986.
  9. "Johnny Paycheck Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.