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Randy Travis & Josh Turner – On The Other Hand

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Introduction

Hey, have you ever had one of those songs that just hits you right in the feels every time you hear it? For me, that’s “On The Other Hand” by Randy Travis. I was listening to it the other day, and it struck me how timeless it is. You know, it’s not just a country song; it’s a story that many people can relate to—torn between what’s right and what’s tempting.

What’s really fascinating is that this was one of Randy Travis’s breakout hits. Can you believe it almost didn’t make it big? It was released twice before it caught on. The first time around, it didn’t get much attention, but the second release propelled it to number one on the country charts. I guess sometimes a song just needs a little time to find its audience.

The lyrics are so raw and honest. They delve into the internal conflict of staying faithful versus giving in to desire. I think that’s something a lot of people grapple with, even if they don’t talk about it openly. And Randy’s voice—there’s this sincerity and depth that makes the song even more compelling. It’s like he’s sitting right there with you, sharing his story.

Have you noticed how the simplicity of the arrangement lets the message shine through? There’s no over-the-top production, just pure emotion. It’s a reminder of how powerful storytelling in music can be. Every time I listen to it, I catch something new—a line that resonates differently depending on what’s going on in my life.

Anyway, if you haven’t listened to it in a while, give it another spin. I’d love to hear what you think and if it hits you the same way it does me.

Video

Lyrics

On one hand, I count the reasons I could stay with you
And hold you close to me all night long
So many lover’s games I’d love to play with you
On that hand, there’s no reason why it’s wrong

But on the other hand, there’s a golden band
To remind of someone who would not understand
On one hand I could stay and be your loving man
But the reason I must go is on the other hand

In your arms I feel the passion I thought had died
When I looked into your eyes I found myself
And when I first kissed your lips I felt so alive
I’ve got to hand it to you girl, you’re something else

But on the other hand, there’s a golden band
To remind of someone who would not understand
On one hand I could stay and be your loving man
But the reason I must go is on the other hand
Yeah, the reason I must go is on the other hand

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TRACE ADKINS WAS SHOT BY HIS SECOND WIFE DURING A 1994 DOMESTIC DISPUTE. THE BULLET PASSED THROUGH BOTH LUNGS AND HIS HEART — AND HE SURVIVED EMERGENCY TREATMENT. TWO YEARS LATER, HE WAS WALKING INTO A NASHVILLE STUDIO TO MAKE HIS FIRST ALBUM. On February 21, 1994, Trace Adkins was at home outside Nashville with his second wife, Julie Curtis. He had been drinking. The argument got worse. Curtis picked up a .38 pistol. Adkins later said he tried to take it from her. Then she fired. The bullet went through his left lung, through his heart, through his right lung, and out the other side. He was rushed to Vanderbilt. Doctors operated. For a while, the people around him were waiting to find out whether he would make it through the night. At that point, Trace was still just another big-voiced singer trying to get noticed in Nashville. He had moved there from Louisiana in 1992. He was playing Tillie and Lucy’s, a small beer joint in Mount Juliet. No hit record. No Capitol album. No “You’re Gonna Miss This.” No crowds waiting for the deep voice everybody would know later. He survived. He did not press charges. The marriage ended. Then he went back to Tillie and Lucy’s. Later that year, Capitol Nashville executive Scott Hendricks came in to hear him. Trace sang. Hendricks signed him on the spot. In 1996, Dreamin’ Out Loud came out. A year later, “(This Ain’t) No Thinkin’ Thing” went to No. 1.

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HE WAS ON THE ROAD, TALKING TO HIS WIFE, WHEN HE SAID THE WORDS THAT WOULD TURN INTO A SONG ABOUT A MAN DYING UNDER A BRIDGE. The road had become part of the job. Airports, buses, hotel rooms, soundchecks, another city before the last one had settled in his mind. He tried to reassure her the way people on the road often do. “This is temporary,” he told her. “I’m almost home.” The phrase stayed with him. Later, Morgan and songwriter Kerry Kurt Phillips built a different story around it. Not a road song. Not a love song. A song about a homeless man lying under a bridge, cold and tired, dreaming of a woman named Jenny and a place he can finally reach. “Almost Home” did not sound like a normal radio calculation. The man in the song was not drinking in a bar, driving a truck, or trying to get a girl back. He was dying. The final turn was quiet: the police officer finds him in the morning, but the man has already gone where he believed home really was. Morgan recorded it for his 2003 album I Love It. The song became his breakthrough. It reached the country Top 10, won BMI Song of the Year recognition, and introduced a different side of Craig Morgan to listeners. They knew the soldier. They knew the working-class singer. Now they heard him telling a story about someone most people passed without seeing. Years later, Jelly Roll told Morgan that “Almost Home” had helped him through jail. That may be the strangest part of the song’s life. It began with a husband on the road trying to reassure his wife. It became a dying man’s last dream. Then it reached people in places Craig Morgan could not have imagined when he first said the words into a phone.

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