Riding with Private Malone

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“Riding With Private Malone”

Single by David Ball
from the album Amigo

Released

2001

Format

CD Single

Recorded

2001

Genre

Country

Length

4:35 (album version)

Label

Dualtone

Writer(s)

Wood Newton
Thom Shepherd

David Ball singles chronology

"I Want To With You"
(1999)

"Riding with Private Malone"
(2001)

"Louisiana Melody"
(2004)

"Riding with Private Malone" is a single by country music singer David Ball that reached a peak of #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts. Released as the only single from his CD, Amigo, the song marked Ball's first top 40 hit since 1995's "Look What Followed Me Home".

1 Content
2 Music video
3 Chart performance
4 Charts
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Content

Based on an urban legend,^[1] the song describes a narrator who purchases a Chevrolet Corvette through the classified ads. Upon purchasing the car, he opens its glove compartment, where he finds a note written by the car's former owner -- a deceased soldier. The note tells of the car's origins:

"My name is Private Andrew Malone

If you're reading this, then I didn't make it home

But for every dream that shattered, another one comes true

This car was once a dream of mine, now it belongs to you

And though you may take her and make her your own

You'll always be riding with Private Malone."

Throughout the rest of the song, the singer fixes up the car and starts driving it; on some occasions, he claims to see a "soldier riding shotgun" in the front seat (i.e. the soldier's ghost). By the third verse, the car has crashed, and although he does not recall the accident, he discovers that he was rescued by the private.

The line "But it could pick up that oldies show, especially late at night" was edited in some markets, with "that oldies show" being replaced with the name of a station.

[edit] Music video

The music video for this song starts out with scenes switching between David playing his guitar on the front porch of a house, and him buying the car and taking out the note that "Private Malone" wrote in 1966.

In the second verse, scenes feature David now singing in front of a red barn, him driving the red car on the road with Private Malone sitting next to him, and an American flag background.

By the song's bridge, David is singing in a farm. Scenes from the first and second verses are also shown. The video ends with David still driving the car, and Private Malone riding next to him dead.

[edit] Chart performance

This song entered the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart at number 55 on the chart dated September 8, 2001. It was also Ball's fastest-climbing single, reaching its peak of #2 after 14 weeks on the chart, where it held #2 for one week. All total, the song spent 22 weeks on the chart. This song also peaked at #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and spent 20 weeks on that chart.