40 Years Ago: George Strait Records a Country Music Masterpiece

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It’s often the most simple notions that resonate the deepest in country music. It’s how a song can embrace the cliché nature of country songs, yet still express a certain feeling in a new and unique way. It’s in the economy of words where the beauty in a country song emerges. The George Strait song “The Chair” recorded 40 years ago today, February 28th, 1985, is a perfect example of this.

When you deconstruct “The Chair,” there’s not a lot to it. The song has no bridge, and not even really a chorus. It’s basically two long verses, with a descending melody at the end that sort of acts like a chorus. But most anyone who knows the catalog of both George Strait and country music would consider “The Chair” one of the best of both.

The song’s success can’t be too surprising. It was written by two of the best. Both Hank Cochran and Dean Dillon are in the Country Music Hall of Fame, and specifically because of songs like “The Chair.” Cochran was already a songwriting legend when Dillon happened to meet Cochran’s ex-wife and Opry legend Jeannie Sealy at a bar, and got invited back to Cochran’s house. Hank asked Dean Dillon to play some songs for him, and then spontaneously, Cochran invited Dillon to come to the Bahamas where he was headed the very next morning on a songwriting retreat.

Traveling around The Caribbean on Cochran’s boat called “The Legend,” the two wrote songs together, with songwriter Royce Porter also on the trip. Interesting to note: “The Chair” was written on the same day that Dean Dillon, Hank Cochran, and Royce Porter wrote the Keith Whitley hit “Miami, My Amy,” and Dillon and Porter wrote “Homecoming ’63” also recorded and taken to the Top 10 by Keith Whitley.



Royce Porter had left for home earlier in the day, and Hank Cochran and Dean Dillon were hanging out on Cochran’s boat at about 4 in the morning, fat and sassy after a successful day of songwriting. Of course they were also somewhat sauced. Then Dean Dillon recalls,

“And I don’t know what happened, but then Hank sat down in a chair across from me, and I looked at him, picked up the guitar, struck a G chord, and started singing, ‘Well, excuse me, but I think you’ve got my chair.’ And he said, ‘Have you written that song?’ I said, ‘No.’ And he said, ‘Well, we’re about to.’ And 45 minutes later, we’d written ‘The Chair.'”

Dean Dillon says that when writing the song, they got stuck at one point. Cochran got up, cracked a Pabst Blue Ribbon, and started pacing around the boat. When he got back, he had the idea for the “Can I drink you a buy?” line that’s one of the keys to the song’s success, expressing the nervousness of the protagonist. Dillon says, “I thought, man, that is either the craziest damn thing I ever heard of in my life, or this guy’s brilliant.”

The latter turned out to be the case.

Dean Dillion would go on to write nearly 70 songs for George Strait over the years in one of the most legendary songwriter/performer collaborations in country music history. But it wasn’t just the writing that made “The Chair” magical. It was George Strait’s signature delivery. Some chide Strait for using his guitar as a prop. As can be seen in the video for “The Chair,” there was no real reason for Strait to even pretend to strum it for this song. All he had to do was sing.

Of course “The Chair” shot to #1, and became one of George Strait’s signature tunes. It’s also considered one of the greatest country songs of all time, with a new generation of country fans discovering the song, and regularly using it on Tik-Tok, Instagram, and other places.

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