"The Race Is On" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by George Jones | ||||
from the album I Get Lonely in a Hurry and The Race Is On | ||||
B-side | "She's Lonesome Again" | |||
Released | September 26, 1964 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 2:05 | |||
Label | United Artists | |||
Songwriter(s) | Don Rollins | |||
Producer(s) | Pappy Daily | |||
George Jones singles chronology | ||||
|
"The Race Is On" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Jack Jones | ||||
B-side | "I Can't Believe I'm Losing You" | |||
Released | 1965 | |||
Recorded | 1964 | |||
Genre | Easy listening | |||
Length | 1:46 | |||
Label | Kapp 651 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Don Rollins | |||
Producer(s) | Michael Kapp | |||
Jack Jones singles chronology | ||||
|
"The Race Is On" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Dave Edmunds | ||||
from the album Twangin... | ||||
B-side | "Singin' the Blues" | |||
Released | 1981 | |||
Recorded | 1981 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 2:04 | |||
Label | Swan Song | |||
Songwriter(s) | Don Rollins | |||
Producer(s) | Dave Edmunds | |||
Dave Edmunds singles chronology | ||||
|
"The Race Is On" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Sawyer Brown | ||||
from the album The Boys Are Back | ||||
Released | September 2, 1989 | |||
Recorded | 1989 | |||
Genre | Country, rock, pop, country rock | |||
Label | Capitol/Curb | |||
Songwriter(s) | Don Rollins | |||
Producer(s) | Mark Miller Randy Scruggs | |||
Sawyer Brown singles chronology | ||||
|
"The Race Is On" is a song written by Don Rollins [1] (not to be confused with the Don Rollins who co-wrote "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" for Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett) and made a hit on the country music charts by George Jones and on the pop and easy listening charts by the unrelated Jack Jones. George's version was the first single released from his 1965 album of the same name. Released as a single in September 1964, it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1965. Jack's version topped Billboard's Easy Listening chart and reached number 15 on the Hot 100 the same year. The two recordings combined to reach number 12 on the Cashbox charts, which combined all covers of the same song in one listing and thus gave George Jones his only top-40 hit. The song uses thoroughbred horse racing as the metaphor for the singer's romantic relationships.
Jones had recorded "The Race Is On" in June 1963 but it was not released until September 1964 on the album I Get Lonely in a Hurry . The single reached #3 on the Billboard country chart. It also climbed to number 96 on the pop charts, a rarity for a Jones single, and United Artists capitalized on its success by making it the title of his next 1965 LP. According to the Bob Allen book George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend, Don Rollins wrote the song one day after visiting Turf Paradise Race Course in Phoenix, Arizona. [2] Allen observes:
In the 1994 retrospective Golden Hits, Jones recalled that Dewey Groom first played him the song in his office at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas. Jones was unimpressed with all the demo tapes Groom played for him and had started to leave when Groom played the Rollins song; Jones heard the opening line and exclaimed, "I'll take it!" The singer on that 1961 demo recording was Jimmie Gray, for whom Don Rollins wrote the song. Gray's version is one whole step higher than Jones' version, and prompted George to seek him out. The two became friends, Jimmie eventually roading in George's band, on bass and high harmony, and Jimmie was in the studio when George cut his hit. According to the liner notes for the 1994 Sony compilation The Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country, the throbbing, echoey six-string bass guitar solo was played by Kelso Herston, who went on to write hit songs for Jones and produce one of his later MCA albums. Jones was extremely fond of the tune, recording it again with Musicor, Epic, and as a duet with Travis Tritt for The Bradley Barn Sessions in 1994. He almost always performed it live in concert as well.
Rockabilly artist Dave Edmunds, in collaboration with the Stray Cats, whose debut album Edmunds had recently produced, recorded a version for his 1981 album, Twangin... . Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom recalled Edmunds' affection for the song when he was courting the band to produce their debut album: "We met with Edmunds at his house. He had a little pub in his basement. He had a finished basement, outside of London. Edmunds had a jukebox, a little jukebox. He had 'The Race is On' and 'Rockabilly Boogie' by Johnny Burnette. He had those records in his jukebox. We all looked at each other and said, 'This is it.'" [3] Phantom also recalled that the song took "one or two takes" in the studio. [4]
Released as a single, it peaked at number 34 on the UK charts, but failed to chart in the United States. The single's release was accompanied by a music video, which Edmunds and the Stray Cats filmed in Eden Studios during the recording of Cats' first album. [4]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(April 2019) |
Chart (1964–1965) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [11] | 3 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [12] | 96 |
Chart (1965) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canada (RPM) Top Singles [13] | 12 |
Canada (RPM) Top AC [14] | 8 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [15] | 15 |
U.S. Billboard Middle-Road Singles | 1 |
Chart (1981) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Singles Chart | 34 |
Chart (1989) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [16] | 5 |
Canadian RPM Country Tracks (3wks@3) [17] | 3 |
Brian Robert Setzer is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and returned to the music scene in the early 1990s with his swing revival band, the Brian Setzer Orchestra. In 1987, he made a cameo appearance as Eddie Cochran in the film La Bamba.
Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. including "Stray Cat Strut", "(She's) Sexy + 17", "Look at That Cadillac", "I Won't Stand in Your Way", "Bring It Back Again", and "Rock This Town", which the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has listed as one of the songs that shaped rock and roll.
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blues, leading to what is considered "classic" rock and roll. Some have also described it as a blend of bluegrass with rock and roll. The term "rockabilly" itself is a portmanteau of "rock" and "hillbilly", the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style. Other important influences on rockabilly include western swing, boogie-woogie, jump blues, and electric blues.
"Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes" is a country song about a man away from home who is worried that his paramour may unwittingly stray from their relationship. It was written by Winston L. Moore and published in 1952. The song has been recorded in many different styles by many performers, with Perry Como's version hitting number 1 in both the US and UK.
"It's Only Make Believe" is a song written by drummer Jack Nance and Mississippi-born singer Conway Twitty, while they were touring across Ontario, Canada in 1958. Twitty was a relatively unknown rock n' roll singer at the time, and this song was his first hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard chart in November 1958 for two weeks.
"Running Bear" is a teenage tragedy song written by Jiles Perry Richardson and sung most famously by Johnny Preston in 1959. The 1959 recording featured background vocals by George Jones and the session's producer Bill Hall, who provided the "Indian chanting" of "uga-uga" during the three verses, as well as the "Indian war cries" at the start and end of the record. It was No. 1 for three weeks in January 1960 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and the same on Canada's CHUM Charts. The song also reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart and New Zealand in 1960. Coincidentally, "Running Bear" was immediately preceded in the Hot 100 No. 1 position by Marty Robbins' "El Paso", and immediately followed by Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel", both of which feature a death of, or affecting, the protagonist. Billboard ranked "Running Bear" as the No. 4 song of 1960. The tenor saxophone was played by Link Davis.
"Stray Cat Strut" is the third single by American rockabilly band Stray Cats, released April 17, 1981 by Arista Records in the UK, where it peaked at No. 11 on the Singles Chart. It was taken from the band's 1981 debut album, Stray Cats. That same year, as an import, it peaked at No. 78 on the US Disco Top 80 chart.
"Treat Her Right" is a soul music song, with a standard 12-bar-blues structure. Written by Roy Head and Gene Kurtz, it was recorded by Head and The Traits and released on the Back Beat label in 1965.
Twangin... is a 1981 album by Dave Edmunds, and his final recording for Swan Song Records before moving to Columbia Records. The album would also be the last Edmunds solo effort to feature Rockpile.
"Detroit City" is a song written by Danny Dill and Mel Tillis, made famous by Billy Grammer, country music singer Bobby Bare and Tom Jones. Bare's version was released in 1963 and was featured on his album "Detroit City" and Other Hits by Bobby Bare. The song — sometimes known as "I Wanna Go Home" — was Bare's first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart that summer, and became a country music standard.
"When Will I Be Loved" is a popular song written by Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers, who had a US top-ten hit with it in 1960. Linda Ronstadt covered the song in 1975, and her version was an even bigger hit in the US, peaking at No. 2. Vince Gill also covered it in 1994 on the soundtrack of the film 8 Seconds.
"I'm Just a Country Boy" is a song written by Fred Hellerman and Marshall Barer. In 1954, the song was recorded by Harry Belafonte accompanied by Hugo Winterhalter And His Orchestra and released on 78 rpm and 45 rpm record. It was the B-side of the record, "Hold 'Em Joe" (Calypso) being the A-side. The print on the record informs us that the song was written by Fred Brooks and Marshall Barer, noting that Fred Brooks was a pseudonym for Fred Hellerman who was blacklisted in the McCarthy era for his socialist ideals.
"Love Bug", also spelled "Lovebug," is a song by American country music artist George Jones. Jones' version, which also features a young Johnny Paycheck on backup vocals and draws heavily from the Bakersfield sound as popularized by Buck Owens, reached #6 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1965. It was released on his July 1965 New Country Hits album and then re-released as the lead song for his 1966 album of the same name, Love Bug.
"She's My Rock" is a song written by Sharon K. Dobbins. It was first recorded by Stoney Edwards and released as a single in 1972. Edwards' version peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.
"Rose Garden" is a song written in 1967 by American singer-songwriter Joe South. It was first recorded by Billy Joe Royal on his 1967 studio album Billy Joe Royal Featuring "Hush". Versions by South himself and Dobie Gray appeared shortly after the original. Gray's version became a minor hit in North America in 1969.
"Hopelessly Yours" is a song written by Keith Whitley, Curly Putman, and Don Cook. Whitley recorded a demo that was never officially released. The first release was by George Jones on his 1986 album Wine Colored Roses.
"(I'm a) One-Woman Man" is a song co-written by American country music artist Johnny Horton and Tillman Franks. It was originally released as a single by Horton in 1956, whose version peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. The song was twice recorded by American country music artist George Jones: first released on the album The Crown Prince of Country Music retitled "One Woman Man" in 1960, and later as "I'm a One Woman Man" released in November 1988 as the first single from his album One Woman Man. It peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in early 1989 and it would be his final Top 10 solo hit.
"Dixie Fried" is a 1956 song written by Carl Perkins and Howard "Curley" Griffin and released as a single on Sun Records. The song was released as a 45 and 78 single, Sun 249, in August, 1956 backed with "I'm Sorry, I'm Not Sorry". The single reached no. 10 on the Billboard country and western chart in 1956. The single was also released in Canada on the Quality label as #1557. The record was reissued as a 45 single in 1979 on the Shelby Singleton-owned Sun Golden Treasure Series as Sun 10.
"Almost Saturday Night" is a song written by John Fogerty and first released on his 1975 album John Fogerty. It was released as a single and reached No. 78. It has been covered by a number of artists, including Dave Edmunds, who also released it as a single to more success, Gene Clark, Ricky Nelson, The Searchers, The Georgia Satellites and Ned LeDoux.
"Hot Dog" is a rockabilly song by country singer Buck Owens, initially released under the pseudonym Corky Jones in September 1956 by independent Californian country label Pep.