Rings

"Rings" is a soft rock song which in 1971 became a top 20 U.S. Pop hit for the Memphis band Cymarron and also peaked at number 66 in Australia. It was a top 10 C&W hit for Tompall & the Glaser Brothers. Composition/initial recordings "Rings" was composed by Eddie Reeves, who headed the West Coast office of United Artists Music, and Alex Harvey who was contracted to United Artists Music. The song was written for the wedding of a friend of Reeves named Bob Hamilton who - as the song's lyrics indicate - had experienced an estrangement and reconciliation with his fiancée: the song concludes with the couple "hand in hand...upon the sand with the preacher man" - a reference to Hamilton and his bride's exchanging vows on the Venice beachfront. The lyric: "Got James Taylor on the stereo", was a reference to James Taylor's "Fire and Rain" being the couple's favorite song - while the "Tony and Mario" mentioned in the song were the owners of a Hollywood restaurant the couple frequented. Besides Alex Harvey, Eddie Reeves recruited Mac Davis to co-write the song but ultimately Davis was unavailable for the songwriting session. "Rings" was written at Harvey's Hollywood apartment where Reeves at the piano began playing the C-F-G chord progression of a song Harvey had previously written causing Harvey to opine that the same progression be used for the new song. Reeves had already explained his idea of using the word "ring[s]" in different connotations throughout the song to Harvey who quickly came up with a first verse lyric after which Reeves quickly came up with a second verse: after a break to eat their TV dinners the two composers then contributed alternate lines to the third and final verse.