About The Song
One of the most fruitful yet least recognized songwriting duos of the 1970s and ‘80s was Troy Seals and Max D. Barnes. Though the two have each racked up a large number of successes in other writing partnerships, most of their early triumphs were joint efforts with each other.
Seals lived down the street from Barnes and when their kids started playing together in the neighborhood, they learned that each of their daddies was a songwriter. The two men introduced themselves and forged not only a friendship, but a fairly successful songwriting team.
Among their collaborations were the highly-acclaimed George Jones hit, “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes,” Waylon Jennings’ “Drinkin’ and Dreamin’” and Keith Whitley’s “Ten Feet Away.” Their most consistent supporter, though, was Conway Twitty. With Loretta Lynn, Conway made hits out of “I Can’t Love You Enough” and “From Seven Till Ten,” two songs that were written on the very same evening. As a solo artist, Twitty also scored two #1 hits with Seals and Barnes material – “Don’t Take It Away” and “Red Neckin’ Love Makin’ Night.”
Many of the tunes written by the two scribes were “custom-created.” That is, if an artist wanted a certain type of song, they could do it. “Red Neckin’ Love Makin’ Night” came about just that way. Conway had asked Troy and Max to write him a good uptempo, “summer-type” song, which they did in just two nights.
Despite Twitty’s seasonal intentions, “Red Neckin’ Love Makin’ Night” was released during the winter months in 1981. It was a move that Conway had no control over, since he had left MCA Records after making the “Mr. T” album. The company released the tune just as Twitty was finishing work on the first album for his new label, Elektra.
“Red Neckin’ Love Makin’ Night” contained a line that said, “Eat your heart out, Killer!” (referring to Jerry Lee Lewis) and the record came out while Lewis was in the hospital undergoing major surgery for a perforated stomach. He was in bad shape and doctors gave him only a 50-50 chance of survival. The writers felt that, because of Jerry Lee’s condition, the timing of the song’s release was unfortunate. But in the end, Lewis recovered and everything turned out fine. Conway followed the “Eat your heart out, Killer!” line with “You know I love you,” which turned the comment into a nice salute to Jerry Lee.
“Red Neckin’ Love Makin’ Night” soared to the summit of Billboard’s country singles chart on January 23, 1982. It proved to be Conway Twitty’s final #1 Billboard hit for Decca/MCA (his 32nd). Eight more Billboard chart-toppers would follow on Elektra and Warner Bros., bringing his Billboard tally to 40. Additionally, Conway had 15 more singles that reached number one on charts other than Billboard, for a total of 55.
Video
Lyric
Hey!
Hello, baby, Conway here
Let me lay this in your ear
Get ready to go, we gonna roll about sundown
I got some boogie-woogie music on the old eight-track
Yeah, I got the top laid back
We’ll go cruisin’, we’ll go foolin’ around
Well, here I am, baby, you ready to play?
Slide it on in, we’ll slip away
We gotta get it, we ain’t got a minute to waste (oh-ah, oh-ah)
I got a six-pack of long necks in the trunk on ice
Ooh, but you sure look nice
Makes me wanna hug you and kiss you all over your face
Well, it’s a red neckin’, love makin’ night
You ain’t had much ’til you been touched in the moonlight
You feel it the most when you get real close
And you hold on tight (hold on tight)
It’s a red neckin’, love makin’ night
It’s a red neckin’, love makin’ night
Stars in your eyes, the wind in your hair
Oh, what a down home love affair
When we go out walkin’, we know what we’re talkin’ about
Listen to the whippoorwills, how they sing
But just like us, they’re doin’ their thing
We know what we got when the night gets hot down south, yeah
It’s a red neckin’, love makin’ night
You ain’t had much ’til you been touched in the moonlight
You feel it the most when you get real close
And you hold on tight (hold on tight)
It’s a red neckin’, love makin’ night
It’s a red neckin’, love makin’ night
It’s a red neckin’, love makin’ night
You ain’t had much ’til you been touched in the moonlight
You feel it the most when you get real close
And you hold on tight (hold on tight)
Well, it’s a red neckin’, love makin’ night (luya-luya-luyaya)
It’s a red neckin’, love makin’ night (luya-luya-luyaya)
Hey!
Eat your heart out, killer
You know I love you
(Red neckin’, love-makin’ night)
Now don’t break the microphone, son
Lay it in there, Jerry
Hey, hey, hey
(Ooh, hold on tight)
Aw, I hear you red neckin’
A red neckin’, love-makin’ night
You ain’t had much ’til you been touched in the moonlight
You feel it the most when you get real close
And you hold on tight (hold on tight)
It’s a red neckin’, love-makin’ night
It’s a red neckin’, love-makin’ night