"I'm Moving On" is a 1950

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

standard written by

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian country music guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' country charts betw ...

. It was a success in the record charts and has been recorded by numerous musicians in a variety of styles.

Recording and lyrics

According to Snow, he proposed the song for his first session for

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

in 1949, but recording director Stephen H. Sholes turned it down. "Later on, in the spring of 1950, in Nashville, Mr. Sholes had not remembered the song, so I recorded it," Snow recalled. The song has four bars of verse followed by eight bars of chorus with the final lines referring back to the verse:

Charts and critical reception

The single reached number one on the ''Billboard'' country singles chart and stayed there for 21 weeks, tying a record for the most weeks atop the chart.

Joel Whitburn Joel Carver Whitburn (November 29, 1939 – June 14, 2022) was an American author and music historian, responsible for setting up the Record Research, Inc. series of books on record chart placings. Early life Joel Carver Whitburn was born in W ...

, ''Joel Whitburn's Top Country Songs 1944 to 2005'', Record Research, 2005 It was the first of seven number-one ''Billboard'' country hits Snow scored throughout his career on that chart. The song's success led to Snow joining the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

cast in 1950. According to music writer John Morthland, "The chugging beat establishes that this is a train song, and the fiddle and steel push harder than is usual on Nashville records from this era... There's real anger and determination in Snow's voice, which sometimes sounds too smooth for this type of song."

Charting versions

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

In 1959, his version reached number forty on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart and number eleven on the R&B singles chart. Charles's version with his soul band featured

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

s and

maracas A maraca ( , , ), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas, also known as tamaracas, were rattles of d ...

, giving the Spanish tinge to a country and western

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

. It was recorded on June 26, 1959, at his last recording session with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

, months before he signed with ABC. Produced by

Jerry Wexler Gerald Wexler (January 10, 1917 – August 15, 2008) was a music journalist turned music producer, and was a major influence on American popular music from the 1950s through the 1980s. He coined the term "rhythm and blues", and was integra ...

, Charles provides the lead vocals, and is backed by the Raelettes. The Ray Charles Orchestra provided the instrumentation. *

Don Gibson Donald Eugene Gibson (April 3, 1928 – November 17, 2003) was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson wrote such country standards as " Sweet Dreams" and " I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjo ...

reached No. 14 on the ''Billboard''

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart with a recording of the song in 1960. *

Matt Lucas Matthew Richard Lucas (born 5 March 1974) is an English actor, comedian, writer and television host. He is best known for his work with David Walliams on the BBC sketch comedy series ''Little Britain (TV series), Little Britain'' (2003–2006) ...

In June 1963, his Smash Records single reached No. 56 on the Hot 100. *

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

recorded the song for their EP ''Got Live If You Want It!'' in 1965. Their version charted in Sweden, reaching No. 3 on '' Tio i Topp'' and No. 7 on Kvällstoppen. *

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...

Released an up-tempo live version on her album '' Last Date'' in 1982, which reached No. 5 on the Hot Country Singles chart.

Other recordings

* Les Paul and Mary Ford – '' Les and Mary'' (1955) *

Al Hirt Alois Maxwell "Al" Hirt (November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999) was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He is best remembered for his million-selling recordings of "Java (instrumental), Java" and the accompanying album ''Honey in the Horn (album ...

- ''

Honey in the Horn ''Honey in the Horn'' is a 1935 in literature, 1935 debut novel by Harold L. Davis. The novel received the Harper Prize for best first novel of 1935 and won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1936. The title of the book is from a line in a squ ...

'' (1963) *

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

recorded and released a version in 1969, which was included on his album ''

From Elvis in Memphis ''From Elvis in Memphis'' is the ninth studio album by American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. It was released by RCA Records on June 2, 1969. It was recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis in January and February 1969 under the dire ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:I'm Moving On (Hank Snow Song) 1950 singles 1959 singles 1983 singles Hank Snow songs Ray Charles songs Don Gibson songs Emmylou Harris songs Big House (band) songs Terri Clark songs Dean Brody songs Al Hirt songs Elvis Presley songs Billboard Hot Country Songs number-one singles of the year Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients RCA Victor singles Warner Records singles Songs written by Hank Snow 1950 songs Song recordings produced by Stephen H. Sholes