"The Dollar" is the debut single 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

Jamey Johnson Jamey Johnson (born July 14, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to BNA Records in 2005, Johnson made his debut with his single " The Dollar", the title track to his 2006 album '' The Dollar''. He was dropped from ...

. It was released in August 2005 and is the title track of his debut album '' The Dollar''. The song reached number 14 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

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 from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart in early 2006, and was the only charting single from the album.

Background and writing

Johnson was inspired to write the song after taking a job as a construction worker, thus causing him to be away from his own young daughter for two months.

Content

The song is a mid-tempo composition accompanied largely by

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

and

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

. Its central character is a child who, upon seeing his father leaving for work, asks his mother why the father has to go to work. The mother then explains that, at work, they "pay him for his time", thus encouraging the boy to gather a dollar's worth of coins from his personal collection, in an attempt to buy some time from his father. After the young boy in the song has gathered his money, the mother calls up the father, telling him that he " oesn'thave to chase that dollar" because the son "has one here at home".

Chart performance

"The Dollar" debuted at number 50 on ''Billboard''s Hot Country Songs chart for the chart week of September 3, 2005."The Dollar" - September 3, 2005
/ref> The single reached its peak of number 14 for the week of March 14, 2006, where it stayed there for two consecutive weeks.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dollar 2005 songs 2005 debut singles Jamey Johnson songs Songs written by Jamey Johnson Song recordings produced by Buddy Cannon Music videos directed by Wes Edwards BNA Records singles Songs about fathers