Roy Clark – Thank God and Greyhound

“Thank God and Greyhound” is a country song recorded by Roy Clark and released in September 1970 as a single from the album I Never Picked Cotton. Written by Larry Kingston and John Edward Nix, the record was issued on Dot Records and became one of Clark’s better-known vocal singles from the early 1970s. The single was backed with the B-side “Strangers” and was drawn from sessions recorded in the late 1960s as Clark balanced recording, touring and television work.

Musically the song is notable for its split-tempo design and its 3/4 waltz-like meter. The first half is slow and melancholy, framed by piano figures and restrained accompaniment that underline the narrator’s humiliation and exhaustion in a difficult relationship. At a pivotal lyrical moment—when the departing woman boards a Greyhound bus—the arrangement abruptly shifts to a brighter, faster waltz and the narrator’s tone turns to ironic jubilation. That twin-tempo structure gives the song a dramatic lift and an element of musical surprise that listeners at the time found memorable.

Lyrically the composition is a first-person vignette about a man who endures a controlling and destructive partnership until, without warning, his partner leaves. As he watches her board the bus, he initially narrates the sense of loss and betrayal, then breaks into a chorus of relief: “thank God and Greyhound you’re gone.” The wording balances straightforward, conversational detail with a sharp, punchy refrain that converts the song from a lament into an emphatic, almost comic release of pent-up frustration. The contrast between the song’s sympathetic opening and its exultant close is central to its impact.

Roy Clark’s vocal delivery on the track emphasizes narrative clarity and a controlled emotional arc. His voice carries the story through the slow, sorrowful opening and then pivots cleanly into the brisk, celebratory material, reflecting the song’s textual irony without turning the performance into caricature. Instrumental backing remains supportive: steady acoustic guitar, tasteful fills and piano ornamentation frame the vocal, while the tempo change is underscored by a livelier rhythmic drive and brighter melodic phrasing.

On commercial charts the single registered as a cross-format entry. It climbed to the top ten on the country chart, reaching the upper region of Billboard’s Hot Country Singles listings, and it also crossed briefly onto the pop singles chart, peaking in the lower reaches of the Hot 100. In Canada the song achieved particularly strong country airplay, where it reached one of the highest positions on the RPM country chart. Its chart run added to a string of successful singles that kept Clark prominent on country radio in the early 1970s.

Contextually the song fit Roy Clark’s broader recording strategy in that era: alongside instrumental showcases and variety-show appearances he often released narrative vocal singles that appealed to mainstream country audiences. “Thank God and Greyhound” functioned as both a radio-friendly single and a performance piece that translated well to live sets. Its brisk, ironic ending made it effective in concert programming, where the tempo shift and the singable chorus elicited audience reaction.

Over time the song has remained part of Roy Clark’s recorded legacy and appears on compilation releases and streaming reissues that collect his work from the period. It is frequently cited in summaries of Clark’s vocal recordings as an example of compact narrative songwriting with a twist ending—a country single that pairs believable character detail with a memorable musical turn. For listeners exploring Clark’s catalogs, the track stands out for its economy of storytelling and its clever use of tempo to underscore lyrical reversal.