The Race Is On (song)
Encyclopedia
"The Race Is On" is a song co-written and recorded by country music
artist George Jones
. It was the first single released from his 1965 album of the same name. Released as a single in late 1964, it peaked at number three on the Billboard
Hot Country Singles
chart and at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100
in January 1965.
(no relation to George Jones) released a pop
/easy listening
version of the song. This version of the song reached #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent a week atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart
in April 1965. Alvin and the Chipmunks
covered the song for their 1965 album Chipmunks à Go-Go
.
The Grateful Dead covered the song on their 1981 live album, Reckoning
. Rockabilly artist Dave Edmunds
, in collaboration with the Stray Cats
, 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 US.
"The Race Is On" returned to the country charts in 1989 when country music
band Sawyer Brown
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 and features Sawyer Brown on their concert tour.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
artist George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
. It was the first single released from his 1965 album of the same name. Released as a single in late 1964, it peaked at number three on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Country Singles
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart and at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in January 1965.
Notable cover versions
Also in 1965, singer Jack JonesJack Jones (singer)
John Allan "Jack" Jones is an American jazz and pop singer. He was one of the most popular vocalists of the 1960s.-Overview:...
(no relation to George Jones) released a pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
/easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
version of the song. This version of the song reached #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent a week atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...
in April 1965. Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
covered the song for their 1965 album Chipmunks à Go-Go
Chipmunks à Go-Go
Chipmunks à Go-Go is an album by The Chipmunks and David Seville, released by Liberty Records in 1965, again in 1982, and on compact disc in 1990....
.
The Grateful Dead covered the song on their 1981 live album, Reckoning
Reckoning (Grateful Dead album)
Reckoning is a 1981 live double album by the Grateful Dead.It consists of acoustic material recorded live in September and October 1980. Some of the tracks are shortened versions of the live performances....
. Rockabilly artist Dave Edmunds
Dave Edmunds
David 'Dave' Edmunds is a Welsh singer, guitarist and record producer. Although he is primarily associated with Pub rock and New Wave, and had numerous hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has always been towards 1950s style rock and roll.-Early bands:As a teenager Edmunds first...
, in collaboration with the Stray Cats
Stray Cats
Stray Cats are an American Rockabilly band formed in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer , upright bassist Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia and the U.S...
, whose debut album Edmunds had recently produced, recorded a version for his 1981 album, Twangin...
Twangin...
Twangin'... is a 1981 album by Dave Edmunds, and his final recording for Swan Song Records before moving to the Columbia label. The album would also be the last Edmunds solo effort to feature the band he co-led at the time, Rockpile....
. Released as a single, it peaked at number 34 on the UK charts, but failed to chart in the US.
"The Race Is On" returned to the country charts in 1989 when country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
band Sawyer Brown
Sawyer Brown
Sawyer Brown is an American country music band founded in 1981 in Apopka, Florida, by five members of country pop singer Don King's road band: Bobby Randall and Jim Scholten , both from Midland, Michigan; Joe Smyth , Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard , and Mark Miller...
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 and features Sawyer Brown on their concert tour.
George Jones version
| Chart (1965) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 96 |
Jack Jones version
| Chart (1965) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 15 |
| U.S. Billboard Middle-Road Singles | 1 |
Dave Edmunds version
| Chart (1981) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | 34 |
Sawyer Brown version
| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 5 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 3 |
External links
- AllMusic
- Jack Jones 7" single info Discogs