The Story Behind the Final Song Toby Keith Recorded, Joe Diffie’s 1992 Ballad “Ships That Don’t Come In”

By the time Joe Diffie released his second album Regular Joe in 1992, he already had two No. 1 singles —”Home” and “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets)”—with more to come, including “Third Rock from the Sun”, “Pickup Man,” and “Bigger Than the Beatles.” Regular Joe gave Diffie two more hit singles, “Is It Cold in Here” and “Ships That Don’t Come In,” which both went to No. 5 on the Country chart.

‘There’s those who never have’

Written by Dave Gibson and Paul Nelson, “Ships That Don’t Come In” follows a heart-to-heart conversation between two men talking about their hardships while celebrating the lives they’ve been fortunate to live so far.

I could tell he’d had a tough life
By the way he sat and stared
And me, I’d come to push and shove
So I pulled up a chair

We talked of roads untraveled
We talked of love untrue
Of strings that come unraveled
We were kings and kindred fools
And just when I’d hit bottom
That old man raised his glass
Said at least we’ve had our chances
There’s those who never have

The men also raise a glass to all the soldiers, homeless, and others who never had a chance to live much.

So here’s to all the soldiers
Who have ever died in vain
The insane locked up in themselves
And the homeless down on Main
To those who stand on empty shores
And spit against the wind
And those who wait forever
For ships that don’t come in

He said it’s only life’s illusions
That bring us to this bar
To pick up these old crutches
And compare each other’s scars
‘Cause the things we’re calling heartaches
Hell, they’re hardly worth our time
We bitch about a dollar
When there’s those without a dime

As he ordered one last round
He said, I guess we can’t complain
‘Cause God made life a gamble
And we’re still in the game

“That is definitely one of my favorites,” said Diffie of the ballad. “It is a very pointed song, it has a
lot of deep meaning to it and it means a lot of different things to different people. I really love singing that song.”

Toby Keith’s Tribute to Diffie

Shortly before Toby Keith‘s death on February 5, 2024, at 64, he collaborated with Hardy on a cover of Diffie’s “Ships That Don’t Come In,” also featuring Luke Combs. The song was released on Hardy’s tribute album to Diffie Hixtape: Vol. 3: Difftape in March of 2024 and a video of Keith recording it in the studio was released later in the year.

Hardy’s tribute to Diffie, who died March 29, 2020, at 61, due to complications of the coronavirus, also features renditions of his songs interpreted by Reba McEntire, Post Malone, Lainey Wilson, Jon Pardi, Morgan Wallen, Old Dominion, Luke Bryan, Clint Black, Darius Rucker, and more.

Photo: Joe Diffie at the 12th Annual ACM Honors, Show, Nashville, USA, August 22, 2018, by imageSPACE/Shutterstock