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Dave Edmunds — The Race Is On
Album: Twangin'
Avg rating:
5.7

Your rating:
Total ratings: 307









Released: 1981
Length: 2:03
Plays (last 30 days): 0
I feel tears welling up going deep inside like my heart's gonna get break
And the stab of loneliness, sharp and painful, that I may never shake
You might say that I was taking it hard since she broke me off with a call
But don't you wager that I'll hide the sorrow when I may break right down and bawl

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

One day I ventured in love, never once suspecting what the final result would be
How I lived in fear of waking up each morning and finding that you're gone from me
There's ache and pain in my heart for the name of the one that I had to replace
Somebody new came up to win her and I came out in second place

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
Comments (24)add comment
HOLY SHIT IT'S GEORGE F-ING JONES!

It ain't George? Well, shit, let's party on anyhow, boys!
 bigpomp wrote:

So much like George's original, why play it? I mean, I love Dave and the work he did in the early days of the Stray Cats, but I have this thing about bringing something new to a song or not covering it.



Jeez, I had that one birthday back when I was born - why would I ever want to celebrate that again? Why would I ever let anyone else throw me a party? 

Because this is a fucking awesome celebration of George's original. That's why. 

Hit PSD and move on if it's too much for you. 
upping to an 8 from 7 - major props for the album title that I just noticed 
Still laughing at all the weird grief over Dave covering this, the Stray Cats connection, etc. 

Great song, cover, and artist. 

Get over it. 

8
Dave must be from southern Wales...
 Gregorama wrote:
At Last! Dave Edmunds on RP! He is one of the greatest unsung guitar gods. Saw him a year ago in Austin. He even played "The Saber Dance." You know, the one that they always used to play on Ed Sulivan while featuring plate twirlers or acrobats. :) Glad to hear him here! Thanks, Bill!
 
Plates and acrobats maybe.  But they never played that song when the sisters were on their backs juggling tables.
 bigpomp wrote:

So much like George's original, why play it? I mean, I love Dave and the work he did in the early days of the Stray Cats, but I have this thing about bringing something new to a song or not covering it.



(responding to a 17-year-old comment)

This is the Stray Cats.
YUKERS!
 primm wrote:
{#Devil_pimp}so zesty ! daves last album for Columbia I believe which he could have mailed in but instead turned a real gem good stuff great cover of john fogertys almost sat night
 

Actually on Zep's Swan Song, his last before Columbia.
There is also a great version of this song, released the same year 1981, on the Grateful Dead's all acoustic live album Reckoning.
 ScottFromWyoming wrote:
Dave Edmunds does George Jones and it is Godlike. Here endeth the lesson.
 
WEE-HAWWW!!! Edmunds and the Massapequan Stray Cats rockin' out this classic, Yabba Dabba baby  : )
Reminds me of my honky-tonk days of the late 70's and early 80's when Country swing was the thing to do on Friday and Saturday night.  Maybe it still is, I don't know.  Anyway, those were fun days.  
I love George Jones and I love this song.  But this version not so much. 
{#Devil_pimp}so zesty ! daves last album for Columbia I believe which he could have mailed in but instead turned a real gem good stuff great cover of john fogertys almost sat night
Ha!

I thought for a second I was listening to my fave local station, KGID. It's a tiny station in Giddings, and plays old-school country: Tammy, Loretta, Bob Wills, George Jones, etc.

Well done Bill!
c.
Please make it stop!!!! I am having flashbacks of drunk cowboys attempting to line dance.
Awesome!  Hopefully it doesn't take another 14 years before RP plays it again.
Wow - that was PAINFUL...that one caused me to turn RP off..which is a rare event.
SUH-WEEET. Now play the original, by the Ol Possum hisself. Thankew.
bigpomp wrote:
So much like George's original, why play it? I mean, I love Dave and the work he did in the early days of the Stray Cats, but I have this thing about bringing something new to a song or not covering it.
That's fair. But Dave's whole schtick is the meticulous re-creation of early songs and/or sounds. Why, I don't know. Anyway, did you know this is the Stray Cats on this track? 'tis. I think it was one of the first songs from the same sessions as the first album he produced by them. So I suspect in that regard it was something they all knew by heart and could cut without a lot of takes. Just the sort of thing a producer might do with a new band so they could get a feel for each other and the studio.
Hell yeah :D
So much like George's original, why play it? I mean, I love Dave and the work he did in the early days of the Stray Cats, but I have this thing about bringing something new to a song or not covering it.
At Last! Dave Edmunds on RP! He is one of the greatest unsung guitar gods. Saw him a year ago in Austin. He even played "The Saber Dance." You know, the one that they always used to play on Ed Sulivan while featuring plate twirlers or acrobats. :) Glad to hear him here! Thanks, Bill!
Dave Edmunds does George Jones and it is Godlike. Here endeth the lesson.