"She's All I Got" is a song written by Gary U.S. Bonds and Jerry Williams Jr. It has been recorded by several artists. The first version, released in 1971 by

Freddie North Freddie North (born 28 May 1939, Nashville, Tennessee) is an American R&B singer. North had experience as a disc jockey at WLAC-Nashville and in promotion for Nashboro Records, who released gospel music. In 1971, he released an album, ''Frien ...

, was a Top 40 U.S. pop hit, and a version by

Johnny Paycheck Johnny Paycheck (born Donald Eugene Lytle; May 31, 1938 – February 19, 2003) was an American country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member notable for recording the David Allan Coe song " Take This Job and Shove It". He achieved his greate ...

was a number 2 U.S. country hit that same year. A second

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, ...

version was released on Conway Twitty's 1972

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

LP ''I Can't See Me Without You''. There was also a version titled "He's All I Got" that was on

Tanya Tucker Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958) is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. Over the succeeding decades, Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature int ...

's 1972 album ''

Delta Dawn "Delta Dawn" is a song written by musician Larry Collins and country songwriter Alex Harvey (country musician), Alex Harvey. The first notable recording of the song was in 1971 by American singer and actress Bette Middler, Bette Midler for her ...

''. Yet another cover titled "Don't Take Her She's All I've Got" was released by

Tracy Byrd Tracy Lynn Byrd (born December 17, 1966) is an American country music artist. Signed to MCA Nashville Records in 1992, Byrd broke through on the country music scene that year with his 1993 single " Holdin' Heaven", which reached Number One on ' ...

, whose version reached number 4 on the U.S. and Canadian country singles charts. Co-author Jerry Williams Jr., aka

Swamp Dogg Jerry Williams Jr. (born July 12, 1942), generally credited under the pseudonym Swamp Dogg after 1970, is an American soul and R&B singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. Williams has been described as "one of the great cult figures of ...

, released his own version on his 2020 album '' Sorry You Couldn’t Make It''.

Content

In the song, the male narrator pleads to someone else not to take away his lover.

Freddie North version

was the first artist to record the song, doing so on his album ''Friend''. The only single from this album, it peaked at number 39 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 10 on the Soul Singles chart in the US. It was the only chart single of North's career.

Chart positions

Johnny Paycheck version

Johnny Paycheck's version was released in October 1971 from his album of the same name. The song spent nineteen weeks on the Billboard Hot Country Singles Chart, reaching a peak of number 2. It was also a number 91 single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, his only entry there.

Chart positions

Tracy Byrd version

Tracy Byrd's version, retitled "Don't Take Her She's All I Got", is the second single released from his 1996 album ''

Big Love ''Big Love'' is an American drama television series that aired on HBO from March 12, 2006 to March 20, 2011. It stars Bill Paxton as the patriarch of a fundamentalist Mormon family in contemporary Utah that practices polygamy, with Jeanne Tri ...

''. It peaked at number 4 on both the U.S. and Canadian country singles charts in 1997. It was Byrd's second charting cover of a Paycheck hit, after "Someone To Give My Love To" in 1993.

Critical reception

The single received a positive review in '' Billboard'' which praised Byrd's vocal similarities to Paycheck, and said that "Longtime fans will love hearing it again, and younger listeners will welcome Byrd's introducing them to this country classic."

Chart positions

Year-end charts

References

{{Tracy Byrd 1971 singles 1971 songs 1997 singles Freddie North songs Johnny Paycheck songs Tanya Tucker songs Tracy Byrd songs Song recordings produced by Billy Sherrill Song recordings produced by Tony Brown (record producer) Epic Records singles MCA Nashville Records singles