On This Day in 1986, Randy Travis Re-Released the Unsuccessful Single That Became His First No. 1

On this day (April 21) in 1986, Randy Travis released “On the Other Hand” for the second time. He initially released it as the lead single from his debut album, Storms of Life. It failed to reach the top 40 of the country chart. A little less than a year later, he re-released the track, and it became his first chart-topping single.

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Travis released his first singles in 1978 under his legal name, Randy Traywick, and they failed to chart. That initial failure didn’t stop him from trying to break into the industry. Finally, in the early 1980s, he landed a deal with Warner Bros. Records. One of the first songs he recorded after inking the deal was “On the Other Hand.”

[RELATED: On the Charts 35 Years Ago, Randy Travis Was at No. 1 With the Biggest Country Hit in More Than a Decade]

It was first released on July 29, 1985, and peaked at No. 67 on the country chart. However, the song sold well and spent 12 weeks on the chart, despite its low ranking. After Travis’ follow-up single, “1982,” peaked at No. 6 on the chart, Warner chose to reissue “On the Other Hand,” partially because they didn’t believe that Travis had any finished songs that were strong enough to follow his first top 10.

“On the Other Hand” reached the top of the Hot Country Songs chart on July 26, 1986. Two weeks later, on August 9, his debut album started an eight-week run at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart.

The Story Behind Randy Travis’ First No. 1

Like many of Travis’ hits, Paul Overstreet co-wrote “On the Other Hand” with his frequent collaborator Don Schlitz.

“It was the idea that when you have one woman, you shouldn’t be looking for another one. I, personally, was tired of that whole scenario of going from one relationship to another, and not having the strength to say no in tempting situations,” Overstreet said. “I was hoping we could write a song that would say we had the strength to say no,” he added.

“We kind of bantered some lines back and forth, and Don said, ‘but on the other hand,’ and I said, ‘there’s the golden band.’ From that point, we looked at each other and kind of got that glitter in our eyes,” Overstreet recalled. They quickly finished the song before going to lunch.

In a recent interview with American Songwriter, Overstreet revealed that they didn’t intend to give the song to Randy Travis. Instead, he and Schlitz planned to pitch it to Dan Seals, whose solo career was starting to take off. Producer Kyle Lehning didn’t like the song for Seals, but knew it would be a good fit for Travis, a new artist with whom he was working.

Overstreet initially refused. At the time, he was on the verge of signing a recording contract. “I was thinking to myself that if it was going to go to a new artist, I’d rather just keep it,” he recalled. “I loved it, and it said something that I wanted to say.” Finally, he relented.

More than a chart hit, “On the Other Hand” won Song of the Year at the CMA Awards. The ACM awarded the track both Single and Song of the Year.

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