^ "NZ Top 40 Singles Chart | The Official New Zealand Music Chart".^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada".^ "Allmusic - Austin Roberts - Charts & Awards - Billboard Singles".^ "Dickey Lee Chart History (Hot Country Songs)".The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. The track reached #22 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1975 Roberts' only chart appearance in the UK. Billboard Hot 100 and number 10 in Canada in 1975. At the end, Rocky says that "if the world would end, your love is safe with me." The fourth refrain has Rocky envisioning hearing his deceased wife reassure, "Rocky, you know that you've been alone before, you know that you can do it," and that in her own way, she can still advise him in his time of need.Ĭhart performance Dickey Lee version Chart (1975)Īlso, in 1975, Austin Roberts recorded a version which reached number 9 on the U.S. However, he feels a sense of hope, with his wife looking down on him and the couple's daughter and reassures that his love for her will always remain safe.Įach of the first three verses - telling one of the chapters in the couple's life - ends with the woman having a sense of fear of the unknown, expressed through the refrain's statement, "Rocky, I've never…," followed by the appropriate follow-up ("been in love before," "had a baby before," "had to die before") and the unassured, "Don't know if I can do it." However, both he and she realize that the strength they have in each other can help them meet each challenge head on. He feels a sense of sadness every time he looks at his daughter, who strongly resembles her mother, and now doing the same things alone that he once did with his wife. Rocky is now a widower and raising his daughter alone. With things going well and the family settling in on a content life, Rocky soon gets devastating news: his wife has been diagnosed with an apparently inoperable illness - the specific illness is unidentified in the song - and that she has only a short time to live.Īll of this is told in flashback, as in the final verse, his young wife has died.
One example is a particularly rambunctious first birthday party for the couple's daughter. The two soon learn they are expecting their first child, a girl.Īlthough the family has its usual problems, the happy memories outweigh the bad.
She accepts Rocky's marriage proposal, and they spend the next several months fixing up an old house to make their home. He first recalls the day four years earlier where, as an 18-year-old college student, he met his wife-to-be (unnamed in the song) and recalls how well they hit it off. In a paradoxically upbeat melody in a major key, Rocky, the title protagonist, tells the tragic story of his young wife in first person. It spent fourteen weeks on the chart, including one week at number one. On the country chart, "Rocky" was Lee's most successful single, and his only number one. It was released in July 1975 as the fifth single and title track from the album Rocky. Snow) and performed by American country music artist Dickey Lee. " Rocky" is a song written by Ronald Johnson (aka Woody P. For other songs with this title, see Rocky (disambiguation) § Music.