The Hole (song)

"The Hole" is a song written by Skip Ewing and James Dean Hicks, and recorded by American country music singer Randy Travis. It was released in June 1998 as the second single from his album You and You Alone. It peaked at number 9 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart, and number 4 in Canada.

"The Hole"
Single by Randy Travis
from the album You and You Alone
B-side"Satisfied Mind"
ReleasedJune 4, 1998
Recorded1998
GenreCountry
Length3:08
LabelDreamWorks 59010
Songwriter(s)Skip Ewing, James Dean Hicks
Producer(s)James Stroud, Byron Gallimore, Randy Travis
Randy Travis singles chronology
"Out of My Bones"
(1998)		 "The Hole"
(1998)		 "Spirit of a Boy, Wisdom of a Man"
(1998)

Background

Co-producer James Stroud told Billboard Magazine that when Randy went to sing the song for the first time in front of a room full of Nashville players, "his voice just filled the room. And when we stopped, these great professional musicians stood up and gave him a standing ovation. I have never seen that done in this town before. Never."[1]

Content

"The Hole" is a song describing a man who is burdened by his sins, which are compared to a hole in the ground. He is described as digging the hole deeper in a futile attempt to get out: "Now he won't let go of the shovel, and he can't dig out of the hole."

Music video

The music video was directed by Joe Murray, who also directed Randy Travis's previous video "Out of My Bones". It reached #1 on the CMT Top 12 Countdown.[2]

Use in media

The song was featured in the 1998 movie Deep Impact.

Chart performance

"The Hole" debuted at number 72 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of June 13, 1998.

Chart (1998) Peak
position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[3] 4
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)[4] 5
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[5] 9

Year-end charts
Chart (1998) Position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[6] 46
US Country Songs (Billboard)[7] 63
gollark: Which people buy for some reason.
gollark: It's basically the pure essence of an arbitrary collectible item.
gollark: Something something electromagnetic fields resonating electrons versus electrons combining with holes in something something semiconductor.
gollark: The operating principles are different though.
gollark: It's easier to think about them as sigils to invoke dark gods instead of electronic circuits.

References
  1. Billboard, March 14, 1999
  2. Archived page of Randy-Travis.com from January 1999. Retrieved September 19, 2009
  3. "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 7079." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. September 28, 1998. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
  4. "Randy Travis Chart History (Bubbling Under Hot 100)". Billboard.
  5. "Randy Travis Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  6. "RPM Top 100 Country Tracks of 1998". RPM. December 14, 1998. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
  7. "Best of 1998: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 1998. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
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