"Don't Rock the Jukebox" is a song co-written and performed by American
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
artist
Alan Jackson
Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for blending traditional honky-tonk and mainstream country pop sounds (for a style widely regarded as "neotraditional country"), as well as penning many ...
. It was released on April 29, 1991 as the lead single from the album of the same name, ''
Don't Rock the Jukebox
''Don't Rock the Jukebox'' is the second studio album by American country music artist Alan Jackson. It was released on May 14, 1991, and produced five singles on the Hot Country Songs charts; the title track, "Someday", "Dallas", and "Love's Go ...
Roger Murrah
Roger Alan Murrah (born November 20, 1946) is a songwriter and independent music publisher who has written hits for artists including Waylon Jennings, Alan Jackson, Al Jarreau, and Alabama.Keith Stegall.
The song also received an ASCAP award for Country Song of the Year in 1992. That same year, the song was covered by Alvin and the Chipmunks, featuring commentary by Alan Jackson himself, for their 1992 album ''
Chipmunks in Low Places
''Chipmunks in Low Places'' is a country album written by John Boylan and Andrew Gold and performed by Alvin and the Chipmunks. It features cover songs as well as original material. Released on September 29, 1992, the album was certified Platin ...
''.
Background and writing
The song is sung from the perspective of a heartbroken bar patron who wishes to hear
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
to ease his heartbreak. As such, he tells the other patrons in the bar, "don't rock the jukebox" (i.e. play country instead of
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
).
Jackson wrote about the inspiration at the beginning of the video: ''"I wanna tell you a little story about an incident that happened on the road a couple years ago when me and my band, The Strayhorns, were playing this little truck stop lounge up in
Doswell, Virginia
Doswell is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Hanover County, Virginia, Hanover County in the Central Region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. Originally called Hanover Junction, it was located on t ...
, a place called Geraldine's. We'd been there for four or five nights, you know, playing those dance sets. It'd been a long night, I took a break and walked over to the Jukebox. Roger, my bass player, was already over there reading the records, you know. I leaned up on the corner of it and one of the legs was broken off, jukebox kind of wobbling around, you know. And Roger looked up at me and said...".
Critical reception
Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe gave the song an A grade," saying that the song "defies explanation" because Jackson "perfectly inhabits the song’s affable weariness, and because Scott Hendricks and Keith Stegall arrange it to honky-tonk heaven."CountryUniverse.net Review by Kevin John Coyne
Music video
The music video for the song premiered on May 2, 1991 on CMT, and was directed by Julien Temple, and begins in black and white, where Jackson described about the song, and then, it cuts to Jackson playing his guitar and singing the song while standing in front of a jukebox. As he does this, a seated figure in the shadows nods his head and taps the table to the beat. Several people come and dance in front of the jukebox during the song, including Hal Smith, referencing or possibly reprising his role as
Otis Campbell
Otis Campbell is the fictional "town drunk" in Mayberry on the American TV sitcom ''The Andy Griffith Show.'' Otis was played by Hal Smith and made frequent appearances on the show from 1960 to 1967 but stopped appearing toward the end of the se ...
from ''
The Andy Griffith Show
''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color.
The ...
'', while some people who come up to the jukebox shake it around angrily, thus prompting Jackson to sing the title line of the song. At the end of the video, the seated figure morphs into
George Jones
George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song " He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...
, who is mentioned in the song's lyrics several times.
Parodies
Award-winning parodist and comedian Cody Marshall released a parody of the song titled "Don't Watch the Springer", referencing ''
The Jerry Springer Show
''Jerry Springer'' is an American scripted syndicated tabloid talk show that aired from September 30, 1991 to July 26, 2018. Produced and hosted by its namesake, Jerry Springer, it aired for 27 seasons and nearly 5,000 episodes. The television ...