On 30 July 1983, George Jones reached the top of the US Hot Country Songs chart with “I Always Get Lucky with You”, his ninth and final solo number one. The achievement was notable because the song had been co-written and previously recorded by Merle Haggard, who had occupied the chart’s top spot the previous week with Willie Nelson.

Haggard wrote the song with Freddy Powers, Gary Church and Tex Whitson for his 1981 album Big City, but did not issue it as a single; Whitson later offered it to Jones’s producer, Billy Sherrill. Jones released his version in April 1983, and it spent one week at number one, following “Pancho and Lefty”, which also had a one-week run. The hit formed part of Jones’s early-1980s comeback after “He Stopped Loving Her Today” revived his chart career in 1980.