9. October 2016 By Walter Price 0

Ghost Songs: David Allan Coe

Ghost Songs: The Ride

I was still breathing when this Gary Gentry( J.B. Detterline Jr. penned; David Allan Coe recorded spooky smash hit the airwaves. It was from Coe’s legendary outlaw country must have, Castles in the Sand. The album is wall to wall authentic country grit n’ twang but the song we’re talking about is the album’s historic creepfest.

Hitchhiking is bad, but back in the day it was sometimes the only way. Especially for a meandering troubadour like in the song. His Ride stops let’s the narrator in the old Caddy, and then things get classic country hero spirited. If you haven’t heard this song before I won’t give too much away. Although I will cut and paste this fascinating and probably true tidbit from Wiki:

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.

Holy smokes, it’s gonna be a long hard ride…