"Rockin' Years" is a song written by Floyd Parton and released as a single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 in 1991 by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 country music artists Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton

Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

 and Ricky Van Shelton

Ricky Van Shelton

Ricky Van Shelton is a currently retired American country music artist. Active between 1986 and 2006, he has charted more than twenty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts...

. Serving as the lead-off single to both Parton's 1991 album Eagle When She Flies

Eagle When She Flies

- Personnel :*Sam Bacco – percussion*Lea Jane Berinati – backing vocals*Joe Bogan – engineer*Steve Buckingham – producer*Ray Bunch – string arrangements*"Romantic" Roy Huskey – upright bass*Mark Casstevens – acoustic guitar, mandolin...

and Shelton's 1991 album Backroads

Backroads (Ricky Van Shelton album)

Backroads is the fifth Studio Album by Country Music artist Ricky Van Shelton. The first three singles released from the album, "Rockin' Years" , "I Am a Simple Man", and "Keep It Between the Lines" all were number 1 hits. "After the Lights Go Out" and "Backroads" charted at #13 and #2, respectively...

, the song reached the top of the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

) chart, giving Parton her twenty-third number one and Shelton his eighth. The song would be Parton's last chart-topper until 2005.

Content

The song is a mid-tempo country waltz in which two narrators — a male and a female — promise to love each other until their "rockin' years"; i.e., when they are old and sitting in rocking chair

Rocking chair

A rocking chair or rocker is a type of chair with two curved bands of wood attached to the bottom of the legs . The chair contacts with the floor at only two points, giving the occupant the ability to rock back and forth by shifting his/her weight or pushing lightly with his/her feet...

s together.

Chart performance

Chart (1991)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	1
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	1

Other recorded versions

George Jones

George Jones

George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....

 recorded a version of this song with Parton on his 2008 album Burn Your Playhouse Down - The Unreleased Duets

Burn Your Playhouse Down - The Unreleased Duets

Burn Your Playhouse Down – The Unreleased Duets is an album by American country music artist George Jones. This album features duets never before released, including some that were cut from his 1994 duets album The Bradley Barn Sessions...

.