Rocky (song)

Last updated
"Rocky"
Single by Dickey Lee
from the album Rocky
B-side "The Closest Thing To You"
ReleasedAugust 1975
RecordedJuly 11, 1975
Genre Country
Length3:40
Label RCA
Songwriter(s) Ronald Johnson
Producer(s) Roy Dea, Dickey Lee
Dickey Lee singles chronology
"The Door is Always Open"
(1975)
"Rocky"
(1975)
"Angels, Roses and Rain"
(1976)
"Rocky"
Rocky - Austin Roberts.jpg
Single by Austin Roberts
from the album Rocky
B-side "You Got the Power"
ReleasedJuly 1975
Genre Pop
Label Private Stock Records
Songwriter(s) Ronald Johnson
Producer(s) Bob Montgomery
Austin Roberts singles chronology
"Keep on Singing"
(1973)
"Rocky"
(1975)
"Children of the Rain"
(1975)

"Rocky" is a song written by Ronald Johnson (aka Woody P. Snow) and performed by American country music artist Dickey Lee. It was released in July 1975 as the fifth single and title track from the album Rocky. On the country chart, "Rocky" was Lee's most successful single, and his only number one. It spent fourteen weeks on the chart, including one week at number one. [1]

Contents

Content

In a paradoxically upbeat melody in a major key, Rocky, the title protagonist, tells the tragic story of his young wife in first person. He first recalls the day four years earlier where, as an 18-year-old college student, he met his wife-to-be (unnamed in the song) and recalls how well they hit it off. She accepts Rocky's marriage proposal, and they spend the next several months fixing up an old house to make their home. The two soon learn they are expecting their first child, a girl.

Although the family has its usual problems, the happy memories outweigh the bad. One example is a particularly rambunctious first birthday party for the couple's daughter. With things going well and the family settling in on a content life, Rocky soon gets devastating news: his wife has been diagnosed with an apparently inoperable illness — the specific illness is unidentified in the song — and that she has only a short time to live.

All of this is told in flashback, as in the final verse, his young wife has died. Rocky is now a widower and raising his daughter alone. He feels a sense of sadness every time he looks at his daughter, who strongly resembles her mother, and now doing the same things alone that he once did with his wife. However, he feels a sense of hope, with his wife looking down on him and the couple's daughter and reassures that his love for her will always remain safe.

Each of the first three verses — telling one of the chapters in the couple's life — ends with the woman having a sense of fear of the unknown, expressed through the refrain's statement, "Rocky, I've never…," followed by the appropriate follow-up ("been in love before," "had a baby before," "had to die before") and the unassured, "Don't know if I can do it." However, both he and she realize that the strength they have in each other can help them meet each challenge head on. At the end, Rocky says that "if the world would end, your love is safe with me." The fourth refrain has Rocky envisioning hearing his deceased wife reassure, "Rocky, you know that you've been alone before, you know that you can do it," and that in her own way, she can still advise him in his time of need.

Chart performance

Dickey Lee version

Chart (1975)Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [2] 1
Canadian RPM Country Tracks9

Austin Roberts recording

Also, in 1975, Austin Roberts recorded a version which reached number 9 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number 10 in Canada in 1975. [3] The track reached #22 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1975; Roberts' only chart appearance in the UK. [4]

Austin Roberts version

Cover versions

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