"The Ride" is the title of a song written by Gary Gentry and J.B. Detterline Jr., and recorded by American country singer-songwriter David Allan Coe

David Allan Coe

David Allan Coe is an American outlaw country music singer who achieved popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. He has written and performed over 280 original songs throughout his career...

. 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 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.'

Content

The ballad tells the story of a hitch hiker's encounter with the ghost of Hank Williams, Sr in a ride from Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

 to Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

.

History

The song first appeared on Coe's Castles in the Sand/Once Upon a Rhyme album. It was first covered by Hank Williams, Jr. and later by Tim McGraw

Tim McGraw

Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US, making him the eighth best-selling artist, and the third best-selling country singer, in the...

 (appearing at the end of the "Real Good Man

Real Good Man

"Real Good Man" is a single by American country music singer Tim McGraw that reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It was the third single from McGraw's 2002 album Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors.-Content:...

" music video, which was recorded live).

Chart performance

Chart (1983)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	4
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	2