Remember When Ray Charles Covered This Early Hank Snow Hit in 1959?

In 1959, Ray Charles had a hit with “I’m Movin’ On”. The song, a cover of the 1950 single by Hank Snow, became a Top 15 on the R&B chart for Charles, plus a Top 40 on the pop chart.

“I’m Movin’ On” appears on Charles’s The Genius Sings the Blues record. The only single from the album, “I’m Movin’ On” follows “What’d I Say (Part 1)”,  a No. 1 hit for Charles. “I’m Movin’ On” says, “That big eight-wheeler running down the track / Means your true loving daddy ain’t a-coming back / Because he’s moving on, he’s rolling on / You were flying too high for my little old sky / So I’m moving on / But some day, baby, when you’ve had you play / You’re going to want your daddy but your daddy will say / ‘Mr. Farmer, won’t you please listen to me? / Cause I got to pretty mamma in Tennessee.’”

“I’m Movin’ On” was a big hit for Ray Charles, but it was an even bigger hit for Snow. His first No. 1 single, Snow’s version, styled as “I’m Moving On” instead of “I’m Movin’ On”,  stayed at the top of the country charts for a record-breaking 21 weeks.

The Story Behind “I’m Moving On” by Hank Snow 

Snow reportedly joined a group of performers during the Korean War who went to South Korea to lift the spirits of the soldiers, according to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. When he got there, the soldiers already knew the song, making it a bit of a “war anthem” for them. Because it became so much a part of the culture at the time, a “pull a Hank Snow” became a code for “soldiers to make an unscheduled retreat or advance.”

“I’m Movin’ On” also became a moderate country hit for Ray Charles. He went on to spend decades as a cross-genre hitmaker, recording both his music and cover songs. Among the other cover songs he did, besides this Snow hit, are “Georgia On My Mind”, “I Can’t Stop Loving You”, and “Let It Be”.

Charles had success with “I’m Movin’ On”. Still, he is far from the only artist who covered Snow’s hit song. Other artists who put their own spin on it include Elvis Presley, Don Gibson, Emmylou Harris, and Terri Clark, among others. In 1965, The Rolling Stones included a version of “I’m Moving On” on their December’s Children (And Everybody’s) record, released in 1965. Although their version was not released in the United States as a single, it did become a moderate international hit.

Photo by Gilles Petard/Redferns

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