What is Last Dollar (fly Away)?

""Last Dollar (Fly Away)""
""Last Dollar (Fly Away)"" cover
Single by Tim McGraw
from the album Let It Go
Released	January 13, 2007
Format	CD single, digital download
Recorded	2007
Genre	Country music
Length	4:30 (album version) 3:57 (radio edit)
Label	Curb Records
Writer(s)	William Kenneth Alphin
Producer(s)	Tim McGraw, Darran Smith, Byron Gallimore
Peak chart positions
#1 - US Country #13 - US Hot 100
Tim McGraw singles chronology
"My Little Girl" (2006) "Last Dollar (Fly Away)" (2007) "I Need You" (w/ Faith Hill) (2007)

"Last Dollar (Fly Away)" was the first single from American country music artist Tim McGraw's 2007 album, Let It Go. The song became his first No. 1 single since "Back When" in late 2004.

Background

William Kenneth Alphin, otherwise known as Big Kenny, one-half of country rock duo Big & Rich, wrote "Last Dollar" after a disastrous night of gambling in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve in 2002.

He and his manager were in the city as part of the Alabama farewell tour. Alphin had $200 to his name and $140,000 in credit card debt, and in hopes of increasing his cash on hand, he went to the blackjack tables. At one point, he had won nearly $1,000, but instead of stopping, he continued to play. Eventually, he lost all but $21. He gave the dealer a $20 tip, leaving Alphin with literally his last dollar. "That night as I looked down at the sole breaking off of my shoe it hit me like a ton of bricks," Alphin said. "But with that realization came the freedom of knowing that I also had nothing to lose."^[1]

From that point, Alphin's career took off, both as a songwriter and as part of the duo Big & Rich. Several years after the incident, he played some of his songs for McGraw. "I'll never forget the day I played him the song," Alphin said. "We were at Blackbird Studio and Tim was making a new album. As we sat together in my truck, I played him a couple of the songs that I was recording. The second song I played was "Last Dollar." He looked over at me and said, "Are you gonna let me record that?"^[1]

The lyrics take the point of view of a man who is "down to his last dollar", but still in a positive mood ("One, two, three, like a bird I sing / 'Cause you've given me the most beautiful set of wings").

Tim's daughters sing on the song's final chorus. When Alphin heard McGraw's final version, with the children joining in at the end, "I nearly lost it," he said. "That moment of reflection in Las Vegas all that time ago gave me the hope to keep going and now five years later, that hope is a hit song for my friend Tim McGraw."^[1]

Chart performance

The song reached Number One on the Billboard US Hot Country Songs chart dated April 14, 2007.^[2]

"Last Dollar" also entered the US Hot 100 at #81 on April 7, 2007; one week later, it reached its peak at #13 on that chart.

Track listing

US promotional CD single Curb CURBD-2015

1. "Last Dollar (Fly Away)" Album Version 4:29
2. "Last Dollar (Fly Away)" Radio Edit 3:57
3. Suggested Callout Research Hook :10

Succession

Preceded by "Beer In Mexico" by Kenny Chesney	Billboard Hot Country Songs number one single by Tim McGraw April 14, 2007	Succeeded by "Wasted" by Carrie Underwood

References

External links

• Lyrics from CowboyLyrics.com

Tim McGraw
Discography
Albums: Tim McGraw (1993) • Not a Moment Too Soon (1994) • All I Want (1995) • Everywhere (1997) • A Place In The Sun (1999) • Greatest Hits (2000) • Set This Circus Down (2001) • Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors (2002) • Live Like You Were Dying (2004) • • Let It Go (2007)
Number-one singles: "Don't Take the Girl" (1994) • "Not a Moment Too Soon" (1995) • "I Like It, I Love It" (1995) • "She Never Lets It Go To Her Heart" (1996) • "It's Your Love" (1997) • "Everywhere" (1997) • "Just to See You Smile" (1997) • "Where the Green Grass Grows" (1998) • "Please Remember Me" (1999) • "Something Like That" (1999) • "My Best Friend" (1999) • "My Next Thirty Years" (2000) • "Grown Men Don't Cry" (2001) • "Angry All the Time" (2001) • "Bring On the Rain" (w/ Jo Dee Messina) (2001) • "The Cowboy In Me" (2001) • "Unbroken" (2002) • "Real Good Man" (2003) • "Watch the Wind Blow By" (2004) • "Live Like You Were Dying" (2004) • "Back When" (2004) • "Last Dollar (Fly Away)" (2007)
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