Tired of Toein' the Line by Rocky Burnette

Album: The Son of Rock and Roll (1980)

Charted: 8

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Songfacts®:

In this song, Rocky Burnette is ready to leave a dying relationship, as he's tired of toein' the line. Despite the somber sentiment, it's a catchy upbeat tune that was welcomed in the post-disco era. Burnette said that he wrote the song in about 20 minutes.
Rocky is the son of rockabilly pioneer Johnny Burnette; his uncle Dorsey and nephew Billy are also notable musicians. "Tired of Toein' the Line" ended up being his only hit; the follow-up, "Fallin' In Love (Bein' Friends)" stalled at #109.
Ron Coleman is credited as a writer on this song with Burnette. A Los Angeles musician, Coleman also co-wrote the Rosie Flores song "Somebody Loses, Somebody Wins."
The music video for this song was in many ways ahead of its time, as MTV was still a year away and most American artists weren't even making videos. Burnette is backed in the video by beautiful girls miming various instruments - something Robert Palmer would do years later on his famous videos. There are also scenes of Burnette dressed up as a fireman and blasting water at the girls, a forebear of the wet video vixen videos that came later.

Comments: 2

Juliette Endicott from Richmond Hill, On, CanadaLove this song! Very up beat & talks about life experiences,
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn this day in 1980 {June 28th} Rocky Burnette performed "Tired of Toein' the Line"* on the Dick Clark ABC-TV Saturday-afternoon program, 'American Bandstand'...
At the time the song was at position #18 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart, four weeks later it would peak at #8 {for 2 weeks} and it spent nineteen weeks on the Top 100...
"Tired of Toein' the Line" was his only Hot Top 100 record...
Jonathan 'Rocky' Burnette celebrated his 67th birthday earlier this month on June 12, 2020...
* The night before {June 27th, 1980} Rocky was a guest on the NBC-TV late-night musical variety program, 'The Midnight Special', and performed "Tired of Toein' the Line" on the show...
And from the 'For What It's Worth" department, the week "Tired of Toein' The Line" peaked at #8, the Top 10 on July 20th, 1980 was:
At #1. "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" by Billy Joel
#2. "Magic" by Olivia Newton-John
#3. "Little Jeannie" by Elton John
#4. "Cupid"/"I've Loved You For A Long Time" (Medley)" by The Spinners
#5. "Shining Star" by The Manhattans
#6. "Coming Up (Live At Glasgow)"/"Coming Up" by Paul McCartney and Wings
#7. "Steal Away" by Robbie Dupree
#8. the above "Tired of Toein' The Line"
#9. "Take Your Time (Do It Right) (Part 1)" by The S.O.S. Band
#10. "The Rose" by Bette Midler

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