Ships That Don't Come In

1992 single by Joe Diffie

"Ships That Don't Come In"

Single by Joe Diffie

from the album Regular Joe

B-side

"Startin' Over Blues"

Released

April 14, 1992

Genre

Country

Length

3:39

Label

Epic

Songwriter(s)

Paul Nelson, Dave Gibson

Producer(s)

Johnny Slate, Bob Montgomery

Joe Diffie singles chronology

"Is It Cold in Here"
(1991)

"Ships That Don't Come In"
(1992)

"Next Thing Smokin'"
(1992)

"Ships That Don't Come In" is a song recorded by American country music singer Joe Diffie that reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart in 1992. It was released in April 1992 as the second single from his album Regular Joe. The song was written by Paul Nelson and Dave Gibson the latter of whom was also recording for Epic as a member of the Gibson/Miller Band at the time.

Content

The song features two men philosophizing about the nature of life while having a conversation at a bar.^[1]

Music video

The music video was directed by Jack Cole and premiered in mid-1992.

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 68 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart dated April 18, 1992. It charted for 20 weeks on that chart, reaching its peak of number 5 on the chart^[2] dated July 11, 1992.

Chart (1992)	Peak position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)^[3]	3
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)^[4]	5

Year-end charts

Chart (1992)	Position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)^[5]	55
US Country Songs (Billboard)^[6]	46

Other versions

Toby Keith and Luke Combs covered the song on Hardy's 2024 mixtape, Hixtape: Vol. 3: Difftape. This recording was Keith's final studio recording before his death on February 5, 2024.^[7]

References

^ Tom Roland (July 19, 1994). "Joe Diffie's 'ditties' don't fly artistically". The Tennessean. pp. 1D. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 106.
^ "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 1983." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. August 8, 1992. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
^ "Joe Diffie Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
^ "RPM Top 100 Country Tracks of 1992". RPM. December 19, 1992. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
^ "Best of 1992: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 1992. Retrieved August 15, 2013.
^ Hudak, Joseph (March 29, 2024). "Hear Toby Keith's Final Studio Recording, a Cover of a Joe Diffie Classic". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 6, 2024.