The Ride (David Allan Coe song)

"The Ride" is a song written by Gary Gentry and J.B. Detterline Jr., and recorded by American country singer-songwriter David Allan Coe. It was released in February 1983 as the lead single from the album, Castles in the Sand. The song spent nineteen weeks on the Billboard country singles charts, reaching a peak of number four and peaked at number 2 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart.

Background and writing

Writer Gary Gentry told Billboard magazine that "there's a mysterious magic connected with this song that spells cold chills, leading me to believe that it was meant to be and that David Allan Coe was meant to record it." He goes on to say that when he was looking up the date of Williams' death in his autobiography, he opened the book to the exact page. Later, when he was performing the song at the Opry House for a television show, the lights and power in the Opryland complex went out when performing the last verse when it says, 'Hank.'^[1]

Content

The ballad tells the story of a hitchhiker's encounter with the ghost of Hank Williams, Sr in a ride from Alabama to Tennessee.^[1]

History

The song first appeared on Coe's Castles in the Sand album. It was first covered by Hank Williams, Jr. and later by Tim McGraw (appearing at the end of the "Real Good Man" music video, which was recorded live).

Alternate Version

An alternate 1983 studio version exists that is still heard occasionally on country radio and Sirius XM. Where the album version leaves off after the final verse, the alternate cut contains the additional lyrics performed in spoken word:

Chart performance

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics