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"The Race Is On" is a song written by Don Rollins (not to be confused with the Don Rollins who co-wrote "
It's Five O'Clock Somewhere "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" is a song performed by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett, and written by Jim "Moose" Brown and Don Rollins. It was released in June 2003 as the lead single from Jackson's 2003 compilation album '' Greatest Hits Volume ...
" for Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett) and made a hit on the
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, ...
charts by
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", ...
and on the pop and easy listening charts by the unrelated Jack Jones. George's version was the first single released from his 1965 album of the same name. Released as a single in September 1964, it peaked at number three 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 and at number 96 on the ''Billboard''
Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
in January 1965. Jack's version topped ''Billboard's'' Easy Listening chart and reached number 15 on the Hot 100 the same year. The two recordings combined to reach number 12 on the '' Cashbox'' charts, which combined all covers of the same song in one listing and thus gave George Jones his only top-40 hit. The song uses thoroughbred horse racing as the metaphor for the singer's romantic relationships.


George Jones version

Jones had recorded "The Race Is On" in June 1963 but it was not released until September 1964 on the album '' I Get Lonely in a Hurry''. The single reached #3 on the ''Billboard'' country chart. It also climbed to number 96 on the pop charts, a rarity for a Jones single, and United Artists capitalized on its success by making it the title of his next 1965 LP. According to the Bob Allen book ''George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend'', Don Rollins wrote the song one day after visiting
Turf Paradise Race Course Turf Paradise is a thoroughbred and quarter horse racetrack located at 19th Avenue and Bell Road, in the Deer Valley section of Phoenix, Arizona in the United States. It opened in 1956. It is owned and operated by local entrepreneur Jerry Simms. ...
in
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
. Allen observes: :"George imbued 'The Race Is On' with a masterfully frenetic, on-the-edge vocal reading, full of whining emotional ambivalence and mock sadness. By gleefully bending and stretching the notes and singing, at times, slightly ahead of or behind the song's fast-clipped meter, he embellished it with a subtle sense of tension and release that perfectly complemented the rapid-fire cascading effect of the song's lyrics." In the 1994 retrospective ''Golden Hits'', Jones recalled that Dewey Groom first played him the song in his office at the
Longhorn Ballroom The Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, Texas (USA). has been called, Texas' Most Historic Music Venue and since its inception has had a colorful set of proprietors. Originally built by O.L. Nelms, an eccentric Dallas millionaire, for his close friend, ...
in
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
. Jones was unimpressed with all the demo tapes Groom played for him and had started to leave when Groom played the Rollins song; Jones heard the opening line and exclaimed, "I'll take it!" The singer on that 1961 demo recording was Jimmie Gray, for whom Don Rollins wrote the song. Gray's version is one whole step higher than Jones' version, and prompted George to seek him out. The two became friends, Jimmie eventually roading in George's band, on bass and high harmony, and Jimmie was in the studio when George cut his hit. According to the liner notes for the 1994 Sony compilation ''The Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country'', the throbbing, echoey six-string bass guitar solo was played by Kelso Herston, who went on to write hit songs for Jones and produce one of his later MCA albums. Jones was extremely fond of the tune, recording it again with Musicor, Epic, and as a duet with
Travis Tritt James Travis Tritt (born February 9, 1963) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 20 ...
for ''
The Bradley Barn Sessions ''The Bradley Barn Sessions'' is a duet album released in 1994 by American country music artist George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved int ...
'' in 1994. He almost always performed it live in concert as well.


Other Recordings

*Jimmie Gray (singer), first recording (1962) of The Race Is On, Phoenix, AZ * Jack Jones released a pop/
easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...
version of the song, reaching #15 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and spent a week atop the ''Billboard'' easy listening chart in April 1965. *
Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as " You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My M ...
cut the song in March of 1965 for her album Blue Kentucky Girl, released in June of that year on the
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 ...
label. *
Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three s ...
covered the song for their 1965 album ''
Chipmunks à Go-Go ''Chipmunks à Go-Go'' is an album by Alvin and the Chipmunks and David Seville, released by Liberty Records in 1965, again in 1982, and on compact disc in 1990. Early pressings of the album incorrectly list the song "Sunshine, Lollipops and Ra ...
'' in 1965. *Country Singer
Jody Miller Myrna Joy "Jody" Miller (November 29, 1941 – October 6, 2022) was an American country music singer. "Home of the Brave" and "Queen of the House" are her well-known albums. She is a recipient of the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal ...
covered the song prior to late 1965. In a 1965 episode of
The Jimmy Dean Show ''The Jimmy Dean Show'' is the name of several similar music and variety series on American local and network television between 1963 and 1975. Each starred country music singer Jimmy Dean as host. Daytime ''The Jimmy Dean Show'', initially call ...
, including guests
Forrest Tucker Forrest Meredith Tucker (February 12, 1919 – October 25, 1986) was an American actor in both movies and television who appeared in nearly a hundred films. Tucker worked as a vaudeville straight man at the age of fifteen. A mentor provided fund ...
, Mollie Bee, and Homer & Jethro, Jody, after singing the song, believed it to be "her song". She was completely unaware that George Jones had already had a hit with it and that others had covered it. Miller recorded a
Scopitone Scopitone is a type of jukebox featuring a 16 mm film component. Scopitone films were a forerunner of music videos. The 1959 Italian Cinebox/Colorama and Color-Sonics were competing, lesser-known technologies of the time one year before the Scop ...
promotional video for her version of the song. *
Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...
cut the song for
RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
. *
Faron Young Faron Young (February 25, 1932 – December 10, 1996) was an American country music producer, musician, and songwriter from the early 1950s into the mid-1980s. Hits including "If You Ain't Lovin' (You Ain't Livin')" and " Live Fast, Love Hard, D ...
recorded his own version of the song for
Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
. *
The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
covered the song on their 1981 live album, '' Reckoning''. The song was performed 59 times in concert during the band's 30-year career. *Rockabilly artist
Dave Edmunds David William Edmunds (born 15 April 1944) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. Although he is mainly associated with pub rock and new wave, having many hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has alwa ...
, in collaboration with the
Stray Cats Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in t ...
, whose debut album Edmunds had recently produced, recorded a version for his 1981 album, '' Twangin...''. Released as a single, it peaked at number 34 on the UK charts, but failed to chart in the United States. *
The Georgia Satellites The Georgia Satellites are an American Southern rock band from Atlanta, Georgia. They achieved mainstream success with their 1986 self-titled debut album, featuring their best-known single " Keep Your Hands to Yourself", which peaked at No. 2 o ...
covered the song on their 1985 debut EP, ''
Keep The Faith ''Keep the Faith'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi, released on November 3, 1992, by Mercury Records. It is Bon Jovi's last studio album to feature all five original band members as bass guitarist Alec John Such was dism ...
''. *"The Race Is On" returned to the country charts in September 1989 when
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, ...
band
Sawyer Brown Sawyer Brown is an American country music band. It was founded in 1981 in Apopka, Florida, by Mark Miller (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard (keyboards, vocals), Bobby Randall (lead guitar, vocals), Joe "Curly" Smyth (drums), and ...
covered it and released it as the lead single from their album '' The Boys Are Back''. It peaked at number five in the United States and number three in Canada. The music video was directed by
John Lloyd Miller John Lloyd Miller is an American filmmaker who has directed, produced and/or written music videos, short films, features, documentaries, commercials and television programming. Career Miller has worked in virtually every aspect of the film an ...
and features Sawyer Brown on their concert tour. *Elvis Costello performs this song in concert occasionally. * Blackberry Smoke also perform a rock version of the song *
Charley Crockett Charley Crockett (born March 24, 1984) is an American blues, country, and Americana singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He has released ten albums since 2015, with ''Lil G.L.'s Blue Bonanza'' peaking at number 11 on the US ''Billboard'' Blues Al ...
performed a cover of the song on his album ''Lil G.L.'s Blue Bonanza.''


Chart positions


George Jones version


Jack Jones version


Dave Edmunds version


Sawyer Brown version


See also

*
List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1965 (U.S.) Adult Contemporary is a chart published by '' Billboard'' ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the adult contemporary music (AC) market. In 1965 the chart underwent a significant change. Since its first publication in 1961, ...


References


External links


AllMusic LyricsJack Jones 7" single info
Discogs {{DEFAULTSORT:Race Is On, The 1964 singles 1965 singles 1989 singles George Jones songs Jack Jones (singer) songs Grateful Dead songs Sawyer Brown songs Dave Edmunds songs United Artists Records singles Capitol Records Nashville singles Curb Records singles Swan Song Records singles Music videos directed by John Lloyd Miller 1964 songs Song recordings produced by Pappy Daily