![]() ![]() As the story progresses the narrator enjoys his new ride and throughout his travels in the car swears he has experiences where a soldier is sitting shotgun with him, Private Malone. The letter serves as his last thoughts before he left his beloved car to go to war, thoughts that he hoped would be shared with whoever inherited the vehicle if he did not return. After buying the car for a steal he explores it features and finds a note in the glove box from the car’s former owner Private Malone, dated 1966 during the Vietnam War conflicts. The now classic story that is portrayed in this song is one of a former American soldier who is just released from the service and upon his freedom from duty decides to buy a 1966 Corvette on a whim. The two characters, one dead (Private Malone) and one living (narrator), form a strong bond that is not limited by death, but is actually made stronger by their histories as soldiers and their ownerships of the same vehicle upon their exit from the service. Although both the video and the song had classical feels to it, incorporating few production tricks on the song’s part and very few details to the video’s credit, both were highly successful among fans who were able to see the story in the song as one of unity between today’s soldier and yesterday’s veterans. Writers Wood Newton and Thom Shepherd based the story of the song off of an actual legend of a war veteran who haunted the Corvette that he left behind after he died in battle. The song was so successful on its own power it helped David score his second #2 hit, the highest point he ever reached on the charts. Inspired by an actual urban legend of the Vet’s Vette, David’s “Riding With Private Malone” follows the story of a man who purchases a 1966 Corvette formerly owned by a victim of the Vietnam War. military action may have played a role in the song’s success.In 2001 David Ball released what would become his first top 40 hit sense 1995, and his only one since. I thought the last thing anybody would want to hear was a song about Viet Nam, you know? It wasn’t exactly the most popular war.” The single was released less than a month before the attack on New York City on September 11, 2001, and the surge in patriotism and the ensuing U.S. ![]() I got choked up when we were writing it, I’ve never shed as many tears over writing a song as I did with this one. “I’m still out performing it, and people still get choked up about it. ![]() “It was my fourth song that’s had over a million radio plays,” Newton said. Fresh off 18 holes at a Nashville golf course, Newton, who also produced the record, pointed out how important and universal he believes those lines were, and he fondly recalled the writing of the song and its success. The structure and length were unlike anything on the radio – three verses, a chorus, two verses, a chorus that’s different from the first chorus, and then one verse and a chorus that is slightly different again, with the common thread that runs through all three choruses being the lines, But for every dream that’s shattered/Another one comes true. An unlikely hit to be sure, even if it was written by a couple guys who had already been pretty successful: Shepherd is the writer of songs by the late George Jones, Colt Ford and dozens of others, while Newton had already had big hits by the Oak Ridge Boys, Restless Heart and more by the time he and Shepherd met and wrote “Riding With Private Malone.” Clocking in at over four-and-a-half minutes, the song is the story of a man returning from military service who buys a Corvette he sees advertised, and how the ghost of the car’s former owner, who died in combat in Viet Nam, saves his life after he crashes the car. Written by Nashville tunesmiths Wood Newton and Tom Shepherd, “Riding With Private Malone” broke a lot of rules on its way to a top five spot on the charts. ![]()
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