Released May 1950 Genre Country | Format Country Label RCA Victor | |
B-side "With This Ring, I Thee Wed" Recorded March 28, 1950
Brown Radio Productions
Nashville, Tennessee | ||
"I'm Moving On" is a 1950 country standard written by Hank Snow. The song, a 12-bar blues, reached #1 on the Billboard country singles chart and stayed there for 21 weeks, tying the record. It was the first of seven number-one Billboard country hits Snow scored throughout his career on that chart.
Contents
The song has four bars of verse followed by eight bars of chorus with the final lines referring back to the verse:
That big eight-wheeler rollin' down the track Means your true-lovin' daddy ain't comin' back I'm movin' on, I'll soon be gone You were flyin' too high for my little old sky so I'm movin' on"I'm Moving On" is one of three songs in the history of the Billboard country charts to spend 21 weeks at #1, the others being 1947's "I'll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms)" by Eddy Arnold and 1955's "In the Jailhouse Now" by Webb Pierce. It spent 44 weeks in Billboard's top 10. Until August 2013, the three songs jointly held the record for most weeks at No. 1 on the country chart, until being surpassed by "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line, which logged its 22nd week atop the chart on August 10, 2013.
Cover versions
While Hank Snow's version was still on the charts, hillbilly comedians Lonzo and Oscar released a parody version:
I let a man work on my car Till he grabbed aholt of the sparkplug wire He's movin' on, he'll soon be gone He turned it loose when he felt the juice, he's moving onRay Charles
The song was famously covered in 1959 by Ray Charles, whose version hit number forty on the pop singles chart and number eleven on the R&B singles chart. Charles's version with his soul band featured congas and maracas, giving the Spanish tinge to a country and western blues. It was also recorded on his last recording session with Atlantic months before he signed with ABC.
Produced by Jerry Wexler, Charles provides the lead vocals, and is backed by the Raelettes. The Ray Charles Orchestra provided the instrumentation.
Other cover versions
Al Hirt released a version on his 1963 album, Honey in the Horn.
A live version is included on December's Children (And Everybody's) by the Rolling Stones.
The song was covered by Elvis Presley in 1969.
Emmylou Harris took an uptempo live version of "I'm Moving On" to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and #1 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada in the spring of 1983.
The song was also covered by Chuck Prophet for a 2007 Jack Daniel's NASCAR television commercial.
There is a version by Warren Smith, as part of a medley of Hank Snow songs.
It has also been covered by Irish rock band Taste.
Big House also covered this song on their 2000 album, Woodstock Nation.
Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash covered the song in the latter's posthumously released 2014 album Out Among the Stars.
Other artists who have covered the song include: Johnny Nash (1963), Jimmy Smith (1963), Timi Yuro (1963), Dave Dudley (1964), The Rolling Stones (1965), The Everly Brothers (1967), Roy Acuff (1967), The Box Tops (1968), Led Zeppelin (1970), Gene Vincent (1971), John Kay (1972), Tina Turner (1974), Mickey Gilley (1975), Loggins & Messina (1975), Professor Longhair (1978), Charlie Feathers (1979), Willie Nelson (1985; a duet with Hank Snow), Bob Dylan (1986), Steppenwolf (1987), George Thorogood (1988), Ashley MacIsaac (2002), Johnny Cash (2003), Rosanne Cash (2009), Terri Clark (2012; a duet with Dean Brody), and Tim Armstrong (2012). The song was released by Matt Lucas on Smash Records (1963). It went to #56 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June.