Inspiration for ‘Love is on a Roll’ came during a football game
This week in 1983: U.S. House Of Representatives voted to halt covert aid to the Nicaraguan Contras; Castro accused the U.S. of creating an “atmosphere of terror” around Nicaragua; Soviet authorities freed seven Alaskan Greenpeace members; and a singer from Floydada, Texas, had his 32nd hit record.
Ideas for songs come from anywhere and everything and according to Roger Cook, the idea for Don Williams 1983 No. 1, “Love is on a Roll,” came from watching a football game.
He commented, “We were watching a football game at John Prine’s house and John got the idea for the song. We had started working on the song at a time when John was on the road just about all the time. So I started working on the verses. So when I showed him what I had done, he told me to hold off until he had time to work on it. So when I saw him again, he had worked out the “love is on a roll” as the hook. So we finished the song and did a rock type demo on it and decided it would be a good song for Don Williams. But instead of playing him our demo, we went to one of his recording sessions and during a break, I played him the song on my ukulele. And he loved the song.”
Williams’ MCA single “Love is on a Roll” entered the country music charts April 16,1983 and was in the No. 1 slot the week of July 2nd.
It was his 32nd charted song and his 14th No. 1. The single was on the charts for 18 weeks and was produced by Williams and Garth Fundis.
Williams placed 56 songs on the country music charts between 1972 and 1992 including 17 No. 1s. He joined The Grand Ole Opry in 1976 and was inducted into The Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2010. He died in 2017 at age 78.