Golden Ring (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Golden Ring” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by George Jones and Tammy Wynette from the album Golden Ring |
|||||
| Released | May 1976 (U.S.) | ||||
| Format | 7" | ||||
| Recorded | 1976 | ||||
| Genre | Country | ||||
| Length | 3:02 | ||||
| Label | Epic Records 50235 | ||||
| Writer(s) | Bobby Braddock, Rafe VanHoy | ||||
| Producer | Billy Sherrill | ||||
| George Jones and Tammy Wynette singles chronology | |||||
|
|||||
"Golden Ring" is a song made famous by country music singers George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Originally released in 1976, the song was the title track to their duet album released that same year.
Contents |
[edit] Background
The song was conceived by songwriter Bobby Braddock, whom had seen a television drama about the life of a handgun. The story showed the gun changing hands several times, with a hunter, police officer, criminal and a father of a 2-year-old child all owning the gun at one point, with the consequences played out in each segment.[1]
Braddock applied the same concept to a song about the life of a wedding ring.[2] Here, a young couple from Chicago - apparently very much in love - goes to a pawn shop to shop for a ring for their upcoming wedding. The man (both characters are unnamed in the song) laments that he is unable to pick out a more expensive band, but he's willing to buy it to show how much he loves his bride-to-be, whom - in the song's second verse - he marries in a roadside chapel later that afternoon.
In the third verse, the couple becomes embroiled in what is their final in what is obviously a long series of fights. The man accuses his wife of planning to leave town; the woman retorts by telling her husband she doesn't love him anymore, "and throws down the ring as she walks out the door."
The refrain between each verse speaks about the different meanings of the ring at is stages in life. The first refrain speaks of the promise of lifelong love shown in the glittering ring; the second verse talks about how "at last, it's found a home," and the finale tells of how the ring has been cast aside "like the love that's dead and gone." Each refrain ends with the lyrics of how a wedding band is meaningless without true love (By itself, it's just a cold metallic thing/Only love can make a golden wedding ring).
[edit] Chart performance
Released in May 1976 - 14 months after their real-life divorce - "Golden Ring" became second George Jones-Tammy Wynette duet to reach No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart that August.
[edit] Cover versions
Country music artists Jason Sellers and Pam Tillis recorded a cover version in 1999. This version can be found on Sellers' 1998 album A Matter of Time.
Canadian country music artist Allen Christie also made a cover version for his 2006 self-titled album. The cover song also features Amber Williams.
[edit] References and sources
[edit] References
- ^ Roland, Tom, "The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits" (Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991 (ISBN 0-82-307553-2)), p. 103
- ^ ibid
[edit] See also
- Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs: 1944-2005," 2006.
[edit] Succession
| Preceded by "Teddy Bear" by Red Sovine |
Billboard Hot Country Singles number one single by George Jones and Tammy Wynette August 7, 1976 |
Succeeded by "Say It Again" by Don Williams |
