Song #80: George Jones - "The Race is On"

Song #80: George Jones - "The Race is On" (1964)

The Race is On

"Now the race is on and here comes pride up the backstretch. Heartaches are going to the inside. My tears are holding back; they're trying not to fall. My heart's out of the running, true love's scratched for another's sake. The race is on and it looks like heartaches, and the winner loses all." 

When I listen to depressing songs, or songs that have some sort of strong emotional resonance, I need to be prepared for what I'm about to endure, or else I'm going to be a serious emotional wreck. George Jones' underrated ballad "The Race is On" is a perfect example of a sad song that is done in a lively and unique form to almost disguise the sorrowful subject matter at hand. Jones uses his expert lyricism and contagious flow to craft a song about loneliness, heartbreak, and pain like your average line up at a horseracing track.

Jones keeps an upbeat tempo for a song that is clearly about incomparable pain and hurt, like many country songs of the era were. Jones also replicates a style very similar to that of Hank Williams in terms of vocalizations and crafty lyricism in order to communicate his message, but doesn't bear the very heavy sorrow that Williams often used in his songs.

Structuring the feelings of heartbreak and loneliness like they're horses in a horserace helps disguise the feelings of our narrator and make the song feel livelier than it is. This is a neat structure for Jones, who could also write songs just as depressing as Williams. This is the kinda song I want to drink a Miller Fortune to at the local bar by the train station.

While I've thankfully never been through a heartbreak, or even had a relationship for that manner, "The Race is On" resonates with me because it is so easy to imagine and feel for what our narrator is going through. I picture a lonely, well-dressed soul, similar to the one you see in the album artwork above, sitting along at a table at a horseracing track. Scattered on the table are losing betting tickets that risked considerable wages, the program you receive at those places when you walk in, tearsoaked Kleenex and wood-grain, and pens scattered all over as our narrator tries to carry on with his next bet, albeit bearing the heavy sadness of the downfall of his recent relationship. Perhaps I should write a screenplay based off this song? After all, our last song is about to be turned into a film/miniseries...

Give "The Race is On" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj7ahuCHGbM