I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair

1992 single by George Jones
"I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair"
Single by George Jones
from the album Walls Can Fall
B-side"Finally Friday"[1]
Released1992
Length3:29
LabelMCA Nashville
Songwriter(s)Billy Yates, Frank Dycus, Kerry Kurt Phillips
Producer(s)Emory Gordy, Jr.
George Jones singles chronology
"Honky Tonk Myself to Death"
(1992) 		"I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair"
(1992) 		"Wrong's What I Do Best"
(1993)

"I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair" is a song written by Billy Yates, Frank Dycus and Kerry Kurt Phillips, and recorded by George Jones. It was the first single from his 1992 album Walls Can Fall.

Background

Jones, who by 1992 had taken his place as one of the true legends of country music, used the composition as a personal statement, asserting his determination to carry on singing as he always had. Its final chorus is done as a call and response, with several other country singers providing the response: Vince Gill, Mark Chesnutt, Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt, Joe Diffie, Alan Jackson, Pam Tillis, T. Graham Brown, Patty Loveless and Clint Black.[1] The song was praised by critics. In the book The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend, Bob Allen describes it as a "boisterous musical declaration[…]about a man's determination to keep right on honky tonkin' into his golden years."[2] Richard Carlin, in the book Country Music: A Biographical Dictionary, called it "a good-natured but defiant statement of where this old fella's comin' from."[3] Brian Mansfield, in his review of Walls Can Fall, called the song "scarier because of George's past",[4] while Jones himself described the song as "my attitude set to music."[5] However, the single only rose to No. 34, and Jones remained frustrated at how many country radio stations had turned their backs on him. "There has never been a time when country radio was so disrespectful to its elders," he declared in his 1995 memoir. The song won the 1993 Country Music Association Award for Vocal Event of the Year.[6]

Chart performance

Chart (1992–93) Peak
position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[7] 63
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[8] 34

References

  1. ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-89820-177-2.
  2. ^ Allen, Bob (1994). George Jones: the life and times of a honky tonk legend. Carol Publication Group. p. 304. ISBN 9781559722537.
  3. ^ Carlin, Richard (2003). Country Music: A Biographical Dictionary. Taylor & Francis. p. 207. ISBN 9780415938020.
  4. ^ Mansfield, Brian. "Walls Can Fall review". Allmusic. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  5. ^ Ching, Barbara (2001). Wrong's What I Do Best. p. 132. ISBN 9780195169423.
  6. ^ Stambler, Irwin; Landon, Grelon (14 July 2000). Country Music: The Encyclopedia. Macmillan. p. 500. ISBN 9780312264871.
  7. ^ "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 1827." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. January 23, 1993. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
  8. ^ "George Jones Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  • v
  • t
  • e
George Jones singles
1950s1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
As a collaborative artist
As a featured artist
Promotional singles
  • "Wrong Number"
Other charted songs
  • v
  • t
  • e
1988-1990
1991-2000
2001-2010
2011-2020
2021-present