Kay (song)

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title: "Kay (song)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1968-debut-singles", "1978-singles", "columbia-records-singles", "john-wesley-ryles-songs", "songs-written-by-hank-mills", "abc-records-singles", "1968-songs", "dot-records-singles", "song-recordings-produced-by-george-richey", "songs-about-nashville,-tennessee", "songs-about-country-music", "anti-war-songs", "songs-of-the-vietnam-war"] description: "1968 song by John Wesley Ryles" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_(song)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1968 song by John Wesley Ryles ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]

Field	Value
name	Kay
type	single
artist	John Wesley Ryles
album	Kay
B-side
released
genre	Country
length
label	Columbia (1968)Dot (1978)
writer	Hank Mills
producer	George Richey (1968)Johnny Morris (1978)
next_title	Heaven Below
next_year	1969
::

| name = Kay | cover = | alt = | type = single | artist = John Wesley Ryles | album = Kay | B-side = | released = | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = Country | length = | label = Columbia (1968)Dot (1978) | writer = Hank Mills | producer = George Richey (1968)Johnny Morris (1978) | next_title = Heaven Below | next_year = 1969 "Kay" is a song written by Hank Mills and recorded by American country music artist John Wesley Ryles. It was released in late 1968 by Columbia Records as Ryles' debut single. "Kay," recorded and released while Ryles was still a teenager, began a string of country music hits for him that would continue into the 1980s.

Content

"Kay" is about a taxicab driver in Nashville, Tennessee. He sold everything he owned to bring the woman he has loved and been with for years from Houston to Nashville, where she is becoming a star and moving beyond needing him. It is a song full of feelings and sadness. The song describes some of the people that he carries. Among them are soldiers from Fort Campbell who tell him that they "hate that war in Vietnam". This line has been cited as an example of the anti-war movement's presence in country music in the late 1960s.

Chart performance

Ryles' original version of "Kay" spent 17 weeks on the Hot Country Songs charts, peaking at number 9. It also reached number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100. Ryles re-recorded it for ABC Records in 1978, including this version on his album Shine on Me.

Original version

::data[format=table] | Chart (1968–69) | Peak position | |---|---| | U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 9 | | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 83 | | Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 6 | | Canadian RPM Top Singles | 88 | ::

Re-release

::data[format=table] | Chart (1978) | Peak position | |---|---| | U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 50 | | Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 55 | ::

Other versions

Daryle Singletary covered the song as a duet with Ryles on his 2002 album That's Why I Sing This Way.

References

References

1. Whitburn, Joel. (2008). "Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008". Record Research, Inc.
2. Andresen, Lee. (May 1, 2003). "Battle Notes: Music of the Vietnam War". Savage Press.
3. Cusic, Don. (July 30, 2008). "Discovering Country Music". ABC-CLIO.
4. "The Vietnam War: A History in Song". History Today.
5. "RPM Country Chart - April 21, 1969".
6. "RPM Country Chart - January 20, 1969".
7. "RPM Country week 75 - August 26, 1978".
8. Dinoia, Maria Konicki. "''That's Why I Sing This Way'' review". [[Allmusic]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::