Castle of Riddles
1983 video game
Castle of Riddles is a text adventure released by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro (in 1982) and Acorn Electron (1984) home computers. The game was written by Peter Killworth and was one of a series of text adventures written for, or ported to the BBC Micro by the same author (others including "Countdown to Doom" and "Philosopher's Quest"). As with all such games, only text is used. The player must use a simple 'verb-noun' format (e.g. 'Go North', 'Get lamp') to control the game. Unlike Killworth's other Acornsoft adventures, "Castle of Riddles" was not updated and reissued by Topologika so it became unavailable after 1985 when Acorn Computers (parent company of Acornsoft) pulled out of the games publishing market. Some of the puzzles however were included in the Topologika version of "Philosopher's Quest".
Plot.
The player takes the role of a 'professional adventurer' who is 'down to his last silver piece'. His services are hired by a wizard whose castle has been taken over by a warlock. The warlock has also found the wizard's "Magic Ring of Power" which must be returned. The player must navigate the castle, solve problems and avoid booby traps set by the warlock in order to recover the magic ring for the wizard. At various moments in the game, the adventurer is asked to answer a riddle. The adventurer must also search for treasure and deposit it in a safe. The treasure may be kept as payment.
Gameplay.
Points are awarded for picking up treasure and again for depositing it in the safe and completing certain tasks. The maximum possible score is 250.
References.
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Acornsoft
Former software division of Acorn Computers
Acornsoft was the software arm of Acorn Computers, and a major publisher of software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. As well as games, it also produced a large number of educational titles, extra computer languages and business and utility packages – these included word processor "VIEW" and the spreadsheet "ViewSheet" supplied on ROM and cartridge for the BBC Micro/Acorn Electron and included as standard in the BBC Master and Acorn Business Computer.
History.
Acornsoft was formed in late 1980 by Acorn Computers directors Hermann Hauser and Chris Curry, and David Johnson-Davies, author of the first game for a UK personal computer and of the official Acorn Atom manual "Atomic Theory and Practice". David Johnson-Davies was managing director and in early 1981 was joined by Tim Dobson, Programmer and Chris Jordan, Publications Editor.
While some of their games were clones or remakes of popular arcade games (e.g. "Hopper" is a clone of Sega's "Frogger", "Snapper" is Namco's "Pac-Man", "Arcadians" is Namco's "Galaxian"), they also published a number of original titles such as "Aviator", "Elite", and "Revs". Acornsoft also published text adventures by authors such as Peter Killworth, including "Philosopher's Quest" (previously titled "Brand X") and "Countdown to Doom".
As a result of the publication of a method to circumvent copy protection measures employed by Acornsoft titles, a High Court injunction against Computing Publications - publisher of Personal Computer World - was granted to Acorn Computers "requiring all copies of the January 1984 issue of PCW to be withdrawn from sale", with the article concerned being regarded as inciting readers to "duplicate computer programs". This injunction was subsequently lifted as a consequence of an out-of-court settlement between the parties involving a damages payment of £65,000 plus costs to Acorn "to meet Acorn's expenses in developing a new locking device". The article's author, Guy Kewney, and the magazine's editor, Jane Bird, argued that printing a software routine showing how to save Acornsoft cassette software to disk was a service to the magazine's readers. The cost of printing the magazine issue concerned was estimated at £100,000.
Acornsoft became a subsidiary within Acorn Computer Group, distinct from Acorn Computers who were responsible for the development of Acorn's microcomputer systems, but Acornsoft ceased to operate as a separate company upon the departure of David Johnson-Davies in January 1986. Past this date, Acorn Computers used the Acornsoft name on office software it released in the "VIEW" family for the BBC Master series. In 1986 Superior Software was granted a licence to publish some Acornsoft games and re-released many, individually and as compilations such as the "Play It Again Sam" and "Acornsoft Hits" series. By agreement, the Acornsoft name was also used on the packaging of some of the subsequent Superior games. Superior chose not to take on Acornsoft's text adventure games, most of which were released in updated versions by Topologika along with some sequels from the same authors.
In 1997, Acorn sought to revive the Acornsoft brand for new software releases, such as upgrades to RISC OS, programming tools, a new Web browser, multitasking movie playback (using Acorn Replay), and Java for RISC OS. A stated objective was to demonstrate that a "wide range of innovative software at competitive prices" was available for RISC OS, with support also being potentially offered to third-party software producers. Acornsoft products themselves would be supported by marketing, including advertising, and the provision of press review samples.
Branding.
Acornsoft titles extended their consistent branding to the software's loading screens.
Acornsoft Games range.
Including all arcade, text adventure and board games. All games were compatible with the BBC Micro Model B. Games followed by "Model A & B" were compatible with both machines. Games followed by "Electron" were also released separately for the Acorn Electron. Games are listed by their catalogue numbers which are roughly the order of release of the BBC versions.
There are also a number of completed but unreleased games that have found their way into the public domain such as "Crazy Balloon", "Hellforce" and "Bandit" that date from around 1983.
Acornsoft Education range.
Acornsoft produced a wide range of educational titles aimed at many different age groups.
Acornsoft also published and distributed a range of educational software developed by ASK (Applied Systems Knowledge) that were widely used in schools running BBC Micros. These included "Podd" (find out which actions a red blobby character can perform (e.g. jump, smile, dance), "Squeeze" (a two player strategy game of squeezing shapes onto a board) and "Cranky" (solve maths problems to repair a living calculator). These titles were part of the Acornsoft catalogue but used a different code (XBE?? – all other Acornsoft titles began with S so the Education range on BBC Micro cassettes would be SBE??). They ran on both the BBC Micro Model B and Acorn Electron.
The "Ivan Berg Software" range was also mainly educational but had its own distinct code (XBX??). This included the 6 "Grandmaster Quiz"zes (Theatre, Crime & Detection, Music, History, Science Fiction and Royal), relationship aids ""..I Do" Your Guide to a Happy Marriage" and "The Dating Game" and GCE/CSE revision guides (Mathematics, Biology and English).
Acornsoft also distributed other ranges of educational programs developed by companies such as ICL, Good Housekeeping and Bourne but they are not considered part of the official catalogue.
Acornsoft Business range.
Acornsoft produced a range of office software for home and business use.
The series continues but mainly with add-on products for the "VIEW" word processor such as "ViewIndex" (an automatic index generator) and "ViewSpell" (spell-checker) as well as newer versions.
View Professional (1987) was a combined wordprocessor, spreadsheet and database similar to PipeDream on the Z88.
Although primarily a programming language suite, Acornsoft released its P-System product featuring UCSD Pascal and Fortran 77 compilers as part of its business range. Developed by TDI for Acornsoft, the product required a 6502 second processor and disc system, preferably with two drives. Despite the £299 price, various tools including an assembler and linker were omitted from the product, these being made available in a separate Advanced Development Toolkit from TDI.
Acornsoft Languages range.
Acorn systems came with a version of the BBC BASIC programming language as standard but Acornsoft also produced a wide range of other languages that could be loaded in by cassette or disc or in some cases, supplied in ROM form.
The relative performance of some of Acornsoft's languages was evaluated using a benchmark based on the Takeuchi function, "Tak" by former Acornsoft managing director, David Johnson-Davies, noting that "it is difficult to imagine a language that performs badly on "Tak" being much use for anything", illustrating a diversity amongst these language implementations in terms of readability, speed and generated code size. A follow-up article expanded the comparison to other language implementations such as Oxford Pascal, Z80 versions of BBC BASIC, Turbo Pascal and Small-C.
Acornsoft Graphics range and more.
The graphics range was used to demonstrate the graphical power of the Acorn computers but only three titles were made available. The X?? code was then used for other types of software.
The range took on various themes including "Creative Sound" (X26).
References.
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Tohby Riddle
Australian artist and writer/illustrator of picture books and illustrated books
Tohby Riddle is an Australian artist and writer/illustrator of picture books and illustrated books that have been published in many countries, and translated into many languages, around the world. His work has been translated by Haruki Murakami and he has been nominated for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Medal.
Riddle's picture books include "The Great Escape from City Zoo", "The Royal Guest", "Nobody Owns the Moon", "My Uncle's Donkey" and "Unforgotten". Other books include "The Greatest Gatsby: a visual book of grammar", the Word Spy books written by Ursula Dubosarsky and illustrated by Riddle, the novel "The Lucky Ones", and two cartoon collections, "What's the Big Idea?" and "Pink Freud". The cartoon collections are selected from his work as the weekly cartoonist for "Good Weekend" magazine ("Sydney Morning Herald" and Melbourne's "Age"), a position he held for nearly ten years from 1997–2006.
In 2005 he became editor of The School Magazine, a literary magazine for children founded in 1916, in which his illustrations, non-fiction pieces and poems have also appeared regularly. In 2009 he won the Patricia Wrightson Prize in the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards with Ursula Dubosarsky for their book "The Word Spy".
In 2018, Riddle's book "My Uncle's Donkey" was translated into a Japanese edition by one of the world's greatest living writers Haruki Murakami after Mr Murakami discovered the book in a Melbourne bookshop on a visit to Australia. This edition was published in December 2018 by Asunaro Shobo.
In December 2020 Riddle was nominated by Australia for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award.
As an artist, Riddle's paintings have continued to gain a following since a sell-out show in 2018. In 2022, His first solo exhibition, Silent Light, was held at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre to considerable acclaim and 38 paintings were sold. In 2023, his Wynne Prize entry was included in the Salon des Refuses, at the SH Ervin Gallery. His paintings are in the collections of the State Library of NSW and the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre.
References.
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Riddle
Statement with a double meaning used as a puzzle
A riddle is a statement, question, or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: "enigmas", which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and "conundra", which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the answer.
Archer Taylor says that "we can probably say that riddling is a universal art" and cites riddles from hundreds of different cultures including Finnish, Hungarian, American Indian, Chinese, Russian, Dutch, and Filipino sources amongst many others. Many riddles and riddle-themes are internationally widespread.
In the assessment of Elli Köngäs-Maranda (originally writing about Malaitian riddles, but with an insight that has been taken up more widely), whereas myths serve to encode and establish social norms, "riddles make a point of playing with conceptual boundaries and crossing them for the intellectual pleasure of showing that things are not quite as stable as they seem" — though the point of doing so may still ultimately be to "play with boundaries, but ultimately to affirm them".
Definitions and research.
Etymology.
The modern English word "riddle" shares its origin with the word "read", both stemming from the Common Germanic verb *"rēdaną", which meant 'to interpret, guess'. From this verb came the West Germanic noun *"rādislī", literally meaning 'thing to be guessed, thing to be interpreted'. From this comes Dutch "raadsel", German "Rätsel", and Old English *"rǣdels", the latter of which became modern English "riddle".
Definitions.
Defining riddles precisely is hard and has attracted a fair amount of scholarly debate. The first major modern attempt to define the riddle in modern Western scholarship was by Robert Petsch in 1899, with another seminal contribution, inspired by structuralism, by Robert A. Georges and Alan Dundes in 1963. Georges and Dundes suggested that "a riddle is a traditional verbal expression which contains one or more descriptive elements, a pair of which may be in opposition; the referent of the elements is to be guessed". There are many possible sub-sets of the riddle, including charades, droodles, and some jokes.
In some traditions and contexts, riddles may overlap with proverbs. For example, the Russian phrase "Nothing hurts it, but it groans all the time" can be deployed as a proverb (when its referent is a hypochondriac) or as a riddle (when its referent is a pig).
Research.
Much academic research on riddles has focused on collecting, cataloguing, defining, and typologising riddles. Key work on cataloguing and typologising riddles was published by Antti Aarne in 1918–20, and by Archer Taylor. In the case of ancient riddles recorded without solutions, considerable scholarly energy also goes into proposing and debating solutions.
Whereas previously researchers had tended to take riddles out of their social performance contexts, the rise of anthropology in the post-War period encouraged more researchers to study the social role of riddles and riddling, highlighting their role of re-orienting reality in the face of fear and anxiety. However, wide-ranging studies of riddles have tended to be limited to Western countries, with Asian and African riddles being relatively neglected.
Riddles have also attracted linguists, often studying riddles from the point of view of semiotics; meanwhile, the twenty-first century has seen the rise of extensive work on medieval European riddles from the point of view of eco-criticism, exploring how riddles can inform us about people's conceptualisation and exploration of their environment.
International riddles.
Many riddles appear in similar form across many countries, and often continents. Borrowing of riddles happens both on a local scale, and across great distances. Kofi Dorvlo gives an example of a riddle that has been borrowed from the Ewe language by speakers of the neighboring Logba language: "This woman has not been to the riverside for water, but there is water in her tank". The answer is "a coconut". On a much wider scale, the Riddle of the Sphinx has also been documented in the Marshall Islands, possibly carried there by Western contacts in the last two centuries.
Key examples of internationally widespread riddles follow, based on the classic (European-focused) study by Antti Aarne.
Writing-riddle.
The basic form of the writing-riddle is 'White field, black seeds', where the field is a page and the seeds are letters. An example is the eighth- or ninth-century Veronese Riddle:
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Here, the oxen are the scribe's finger(s) and thumb, and the plough is the pen. Among literary riddles, riddles on the pen and other writing equipment are particularly widespread.
Year-riddle.
The year-riddle is found across Eurasia. For example, a riddle in the Sanskrit "Rig Veda", from around 1500–1000 BCE, describes a 'twelve-spoked wheel, upon which stand 720 sons of one birth' (i.e. the twelve months of the year, which together supposedly have 360 days and 360 nights).
Person-riddle.
The most famous example of this type is the riddle of the Sphinx. This Estonian example shows the pattern:
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The riddle describes a crawling baby, a standing person, and an old person with a walking stick.
Two-legs, three-legs, and four-legs.
This type includes riddles along the lines of this German example:
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The conceit here is that Two-legs is a person, Three-legs is a three-legged stool, Four-legs is a dog, and One-leg is a ham hock.
Four Hang; Two Point the Way.
An example of Four Hang; Two Point the Way, to which the pre-eminent solution is 'cow' is given here in thirteenth-century Icelandic form:
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The cow has four teats, four legs, two horns, two back legs, and one tail.
Featherless bird-riddle.
The featherless bird-riddle is best known in Central Europe. An English version is:
<poem style="margin-left:2em">
White bird featherless
Flew from Paradise,
Perched upon the castle wall;
Up came Lord John landless,
Took it up handless,
And rode away horseless to the King's white hall.</poem>
Here, a snowflake falls from the sky, and is blown off by the wind.
Riddle-traditions by region.
The riddle was at times a prominent literary form in the ancient and medieval world, so riddles are extensively, if patchily, attested in our written records from these periods. More recently, riddles have been collected from oral tradition by scholars in many parts of the world.
Babylon.
According to Archer Taylor, "the oldest recorded riddles are Babylonian school texts which show no literary polish". The answers to the riddles are not preserved; the riddles include "my knees hasten, my feet do not rest, a shepherd without pity drives me to pasture" (a river? A rowboat?); "you went and took the enemy's property; the enemy came and took your property" (a weaving shuttle?); "who becomes pregnant without conceiving, who becomes fat without eating?" (a raincloud?). These may be riddles from oral tradition that a teacher has put into a schoolbook.
South Asia.
It is thought that the world's earliest surviving poetic riddles survive in the Sanskrit "Rigveda". of the first book of the "Rigveda" can be understood to comprise a series of riddles or enigmas which are now obscure but may have been an enigmatic exposition of the pravargya ritual. These riddles overlap in significant part with a collection of forty-seven in the Atharvaveda; riddles also appear elsewhere in Vedic texts. Taylor cited the following example: '"Who moves in the air? Who makes a noise on seeing a thief? Who is the enemy of lotuses? Who is the climax of fury?" The answers to the first three questions, when combined in the manner of a charade, yield the answer to the fourth question. The first answer is bird ("vi"), the second dog ("śvā"), the third sun ("mitra"), and the whole is Vishvamitra, Rama's first teacher and counselor and a man noted for his outbursts of rage'.
Accordingly, riddles are treated in early studies of Sanskrit poetry such as Daṇḍin's seventh- or eighth-century "Kāvyādarśa".
Early narrative literature also sometimes includes riddles, prominently the "Mahabharata", which for example contains the Yaksha Prashna, a series of riddles posed by a nature-spirit ("yaksha") to Yudhishthira.
The first riddle collection in a medieval Indic language is traditionally thought to be the riddles of Amir Khusrow (1253–1325), which are written in Hindawi, in verse, in the mātrika metre.
As of the 1970s, folklorists had not undertaken extensive collecting of riddles in India, but riddling was known to be thriving as a form of folk-literature, sometimes in verse. Riddles have also been collected in Tamil.
Hebrew, Arabic and Persian.
While riddles are not numerous in the Bible, they are present, most famously in Samson's riddle in Judges xiv.14, but also in I Kings 10:1–13 (where the Queen of Sheba tests Solomon's wisdom), and in the Talmud. Sirach also mentions riddles as a popular dinner pastime, while the Aramaic "Story of Ahikar" contains a long section of proverbial wisdom that in some versions also contains riddles. Otherwise, riddles are sparse in ancient Semitic writing.
In the medieval period, however, verse riddles, alongside other puzzles and conundra, became a significant literary form in the Arabic-speaking world, and accordingly in Islamic Persian culture and in Hebrew — particularly in Al-Andalus. Since early Arabic and Persian poetry often features rich, metaphorical description, and ekphrasis, there is a natural overlap in style and approach between poetry generally and riddles specifically; literary riddles are therefore often a subset of the descriptive poetic form known in both traditions as "wasf". Riddles are attested in anthologies of poetry and in prosimetrical portrayals of riddle-contests in Arabic "maqāmāt" and in Persian epics such as the "Shahnameh". Meanwhile, in Hebrew, Dunash ben Labrat (920–990), credited with transposing Arabic metres into Hebrew, composed a number of riddles, mostly apparently inspired by folk-riddles. Other Hebrew-writing exponents included Moses ibn Ezra, Yehuda Alharizi, Judah Halevi, Immanuel the Roman, and Israel Onceneyra.
In both Arabic and Persian, riddles seem to have become increasingly scholarly in style over time, increasingly emphasising riddles and puzzles in which the interpreter has to resolve clues to letters and numbers to put together the word which is the riddle's solution.
Riddles have been collected by modern scholars throughout the Arabic-speaking world.
Europe.
Greek.
Riddles are known to have been popular in Greece in Hellenistic times, and possibly before; they were prominent among the entertainments and challenges presented at symposia. Oracles were also represented as speaking in often riddlic language. However, the first significant corpus of Greek riddles survives in an anthology of earlier material known as the "Greek Anthology", which contains about 50 verse riddles, probably put into its present form by Constantine Cephalas, working in the tenth century CE. Most surviving ancient Greek riddles are in verse. In the second chapter of Book III of Aristotle's "Rhetoric", the philosopher stated that "good riddles do, in general, provide us with satisfactory metaphors: for metaphors imply riddles, and therefore a good riddle can furnish a good metaphor."
Literary riddles were also composed in Byzantium, from perhaps the tenth century with the work of John Geometres, into the fifteenth century, along with a neo-Byzantine revival in around the early eighteenth century. There was a particular peak around the long twelfth century.
Latin and romance.
Two Latin riddles are preserved as graffiti in the Basilica at Pompeii. The pre-eminent collection of ancient Latin riddles is a collection of 100 hexametrical riddles by Symphosius which were influential on later medieval Latin writers. The Bern Riddles, a collection of Latin riddles clearly modelled on Symphosius, were composed in the early seventh century by an unknown author, perhaps in northern Italy. Symphosius's collection also inspired a number of Anglo-Saxon riddlers who wrote in Latin. They remained influential in medieval Castilian tradition, being the basis for the second set of riddles in the thirteenth-century "Libro de Apolonio", posed by Apolonio's daughter Tarsiana to her father.
The perhaps eighth- or ninth-century Veronese Riddle is a key witness to the linguistic transition from Latin to Romance, but riddles are otherwise rare in medieval romance languages. However, in the early modern period, printed riddle collections were published in French, including the "Adevineaux amoureux" (printed in Bruges by Colard Mansion around 1479); and "Demandes joyeuses en maniere de quolibets", the basis for Wynkyn de Worde's 1511 "Demaundes Joyous".
The Germanic-speaking world.
Riddles survive only fragmentarily in Old High German: three, very short, possible examples exist in manuscripts from the Monastery of St Gallen, but, while certainly cryptic, they are not necessarily riddles in a strict sense. About 150 survive in Middle High German, mostly quoted in other literary contexts. Likewise, riddles are rare in Old Norse: almost all occur in one section of "Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks", in which the god Óðinn propounds around 37 riddles (depending on the manuscript). These riddles do, however, provide insights into Norse mythology, medieval Scandinavian social norms, and rarely attested poetic forms.
By contrast, verse riddles were prominent in early medieval England, following the seminal composition of one hundred and one riddles by Aldhelm (c. 639–709), written in Latin and inspired by the fourth- or fifth-century Latin poet Symphosius. Aldhelm was followed by a number of other Anglo-Saxons writing riddles in Latin. This prestigious literary heritage contextualises the survival of nearly one hundred riddles in the tenth-century Exeter Book, one of the main surviving collections of Old English verse. The riddles in this book vary in subject matter from ribald innuendo to theological sophistication. Three, Exeter Book Riddle 35 and Riddles 40/66, are in origin translations of riddles by Aldhelm (and Riddle 35 the only Old English riddle to be attested in another manuscript besides the Exeter Book). Unlike the pithy three-line riddles of Symphosius, the Old English riddles tend to be discursive, often musing on complex processes of manufacture when describing artefacts such as mead (Exeter Book Riddle 27) or a reed-pen or -pipe (Exeter Book Riddle 60). They are noted for providing perspectives on the world which give voice to actors which tend not to appear in Old English poetry, ranging from female slaves to animals and plants. In addition, they often subvert the conventions of Old English heroic and religious poetry.
While medieval records of Germanic-language riddles are patchy, with the advent of print in the West, collections of riddles and similar kinds of questions began to be published. A large number of riddle collections were printed in the German-speaking world and, partly under German influence, in Scandinavia. Riddles were evidently hugely popular in Germany: a recent research project uncovered more than 100,000 early modern German riddles, with the most important collection being that "Strassburger Rätselbuch", first published around 1500 and many times reprinted. This is one of the most famous riddles of that time:
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That is, "the snow (featherless bird) lies on a bare tree in winter (leafless tree), and the sun (speechless maiden) causes the snow to melt (ate the featherless bird)".
Likewise, early modern English-speakers published printed riddle collections, such as the 1598 "Riddles of Heraclitus and Democritus", which includes for example the following riddle:<poem style="margin-left:2em">
First I was small, and round like a pearl;
Then long and slender, as brave as an earl;
Since, like an hermit, I lived in a cell,
And now, like a rogue, in the wide world I dwell.
</poem>
After the early Middle Ages, the riddle was seldom used as a literary form in English. Tellingly, while Jonathan Swift composed at least eight verse riddles on themes such as a pen, gold, and the privy, this was seen as a lapse in taste by many of his contemporaries. However, although riddles are seldom used today as a literary form in their own right, they have arguably influenced the approach to poetry of a number of twentieth-century poets, such as Francis Ponge, Wallace Stevens, Richard Wilbur, Rainer M. Rilke, and Henrikas Radauskas. The famed Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote "All is a riddle, and the key to a riddle ... is another riddle".
Riddles continued to flourish until recently as an oral form of entertainment, however; the seminal collection of Anglophone riddles from the early modern period through to the twentieth century is Archer Taylor's. Riddles are, for example, prominent in some early-modern ballads collected from oral tradition. Some of those included in the Child Ballads are "Riddles Wisely Expounded" (Child 1), "The Elfin Knight" (Child 2), "King John and the Bishop" (Child 45), "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (Child 46), and "Proud Lady Margaret" (Child 47). Contemporary English-language riddles typically use puns and double entendres for humorous effect, rather than to puzzle the butt of the joke, as in "Why is six afraid of seven?" "Because seven eight nine (eight can be replaced with ate)." These riddles are now mostly children's humour and games rather than literary compositions.
Some riddles are composed of foreign words and play on similar sounds, as in:
"There were two cats, one two three cat and un deux trois cat. They had a swimming race from England to France. Who won?"
"One two three cat, because un deux trois quatre cinq (un deux trois cat sank)."
This plays on the fact that the French words for four and five are pronounced similarly to the English words "cat" and "sank".
The Celtic-speaking world.
Few riddles are attested in medieval Celtic languages, though this depends on how narrowly a riddle is defined; some early medieval Welsh and Irish juridical texts have been read as being riddles. One undisputed riddle is attested in medieval Welsh, an elaborate text entitled 'Canu y Gwynt' ('song of the wind') in the fourteenth-century Book of Taliesin probably inspired by Latin riddles on the same theme. However, this record is supplemented by Latin material, apparently from a Brittonic cultural background in North Britain, about Lailoken: in a twelfth-century text, Lailoken poses three riddles to his captor King Meldred.
The earliest riddles attested in Irish are generally held to be found in a short collection from the fifteenth-century Book of Fermoy. However, other forms of wisdom contest do occur in Irish literature, such as "The Colloquy of the Two Sages", first attested in twelfth-century manuscripts, and in one such contest, in "Imthecht na Tromdaime", first attested in the fifteenth century, at least one riddle is arguably posed.
Even research on the post-medieval Celtic-speaking world has yielded a "comparatively meagre corpus".
The Finnic-speaking world.
The corpus of traditional riddles from the Finnic-speaking world (including the modern Finland, Estonia, and parts of Western Russia) is fairly unitary, though eastern Finnish-speaking regions show particular influence of Russian Orthodox Christianity and Slavonic riddle culture. The Finnish for "riddle" is "arvoitus" (pl. "arvoitukset"), related to the verb "arvata" ("guess").
Finnic riddles are noteworthy in relation to the rest of the world's oral riddle canon for its original imagery, their abundance of sexual riddles, and the interesting collision of influences from east and west; along with the attestation in some regions of an elaborate riddle-game. Riddles provide some of the first surviving evidence for Finnish-language literature.
East Asia.
China.
In modern Chinese, the standard word for 'riddle' is "mi" (謎, literally "to bewilder"). Riddles are spoken of as having a "mian" (面, "surface", the question component of the riddle), and a "di" (底, "base", the answer component). Ancient Chinese terms for 'riddle' include "yin" (讔) and "sou" (廋), which both mean "hidden".
Literary riddles in China first begin to be attested in significant numbers around the second century CE.
The Chinese riddle-tradition makes much use of visual puns on Chinese characters. One example is the riddle "千 里 会 千 金"; these characters respectively mean 'thousand kilometre meet thousand gold'.
Thus the answer to "thousand kilometres meet thousand gold" is "妈" (mother).
The posing and solving of riddles has long been an important part of the Chinese Lantern Festival. China also contributed a distinctive kind of riddle known in English as the "kōan" (), developed as a teaching technique in Zen Buddhism in the Tang dynasty (618–907). In this tradition, the answer to the riddle is to be established through years of meditation, informed by Zen thought, as part of a process of seeking enlightenment.
In the twentieth century, thousands of riddles and similar enigmas have been collected, capitalising on the large number of homophones in Chinese. Examples of folk-riddles include:
The Philippines.
Quite similar to its English counterpart, the riddle in the Philippines is called "Bugtong". It is traditionally used during a funeral wake together with other games such as "tong-its" or the more popular "sakla"; later generations use "Bugtong" as a form of past time or as an activity. One peculiarity of the Filipino version is the way they start with the phrase "Bugtong-bugtong" before saying the riddle; usually it is common to create riddles that rhyme.
This is an example of a "Tagalog" "Bugtong":
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Further south, in Sulawesi, Indonesia, among the Pendau, riddles are also used at funeral gatherings.
Africa.
Anthropological research in Africa has produced extensive collections of riddles over the last century or so. Riddles have been characterised as "one of the most important forms of oral art in Africa"; Hamnett analyzes African riddling from an anthropological viewpoint; Yoruba riddles have enjoyed a recent monograph study. Wambi Cornelius Gulere wrote his doctoral project at Makerere University, titled "Riddle Performance and Societal Discourses: Lessons from Busoga". He argues for recognition of the importance of the riddling act, not merely gathering and studying lists of riddles. Grivas Muchineripi Kayange has seen African riddles as a window into African philosophy.
The Americas.
Native American traditions.
Riddles in the Americas are of particular interest to scholarship because it was long thought that native American cultures had no autochthonous riddle traditions (as opposed to riddles inspired by European culture, as with the twenty-two Aztec riddles collected by Bernardino de Sahagún in the sixteenth century, in the famous Florentine codex). If so, this would have suggested that riddles are not a universal art form. However, Hieronymus Lalemant gave a


If You're Reading This
"If You're Reading This" is a song performed by American country music artist Tim McGraw. The song was first performed at the Academy of Country Music (ACM) awards, which were held in Las Vegas, Nevada and aired May 15, 2007 on CBS. Shortly after McGraw's live performance, several radio stations began playing a telecast of the song, boosting it to a debut at No. 35 on the "Billboard" Hot Country Songs charts from unsolicited airplay. A remixed version of the live recording was later released to radio as a single, overlapping McGraw's then-current single, "I Need You", a duet with wife Faith Hill.
"If You're Reading This" eventually peaked at No. 3 on the "Billboard" country charts in October 2007, becoming McGraw's forty-second Top Ten country hit overall. The song also peaked at No. 41 on the ""Billboard" Hot 100".
About the song.
"If You're Reading This" is a tribute to the families of soldiers who have died. Its lyrics take the form of a letter written from a soldier to his family — a letter that is intended to be sent only if the soldier dies ("If you're reading this / I'm already home").
McGraw co-wrote the song, with Brad and Brett Warren of country duo The Warren Brothers, approximately three weeks before the ACM awards aired. The three were inspired by reading a magazine article on war casualties.
When McGraw performed the song at the ACM telecast, one hundred relatives of soldiers joined him onstage, under a banner that read "Families of Fallen Heroes". After performing the song, he received a standing ovation.
Chart performance.
Despite the lack of a studio recording, the song received airplay on country radio after several stations began playing the CBS telecast of McGraw's live performance. As a result, it entered "Billboard"'s Hot Country Songs chart at number 35. Scott Siman, McGraw's manager, had been working with both the label (Curb Records) and radio stations to "address the fact that we don't have a studio recorded version of this song". A remixed version (with most of the audience noise removed, except for applause at the end) was released to radio in June 2007, while McGraw's then-current single "I Need You" (a Faith Hill duet) was also climbing the charts. This remix was added to later presses of his then current album "Let It Go", and Curb began promoting the song as a single in place of "I Need You".
"If You're Reading This" is the second song in McGraw's career that has charted due to a live performance. In 2001, "unknown fans" taped McGraw's performance of the song "Things Change" during the CMA awards, and posted the recording to Napster; as a result, several stations downloaded and played the live telecast of that song.
References.
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Tim McGraw
American country singer and actor (born 1967)
Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, five for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those albums have reached number one on the Top Country Albums charts, with his 1994 breakthrough album "Not a Moment Too Soon" being the top country album of 1994. In total, McGraw's albums have produced 65 singles, 25 of which have reached number one on the Hot Country Songs or Country Airplay charts.
Three of these singles – "It's Your Love", "Just to See You Smile", and "Live Like You Were Dying" – were respectively the top country songs of 1997, 1998, and 2004 according to "Billboard" Year-End. He has also won three Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music awards, 11 Country Music Association (CMA) awards, 10 American Music Awards, and three People's Choice Awards. His Soul2Soul II Tour, which was done in partnership with his wife, Faith Hill, is one of the highest-grossing tours in country music history, and one of the top five among all genres of music. He has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
McGraw has ventured into acting, with supporting roles in "The Blind Side", "Friday Night Lights", "The Kingdom", "Tomorrowland", "Four Christmases", flashback scenes in 2 episodes of "Yellowstone", and "The Shack" as well as lead roles in "Flicka" (2006), "Country Strong" (2010), and "1883" (2021). He was a minority owner of the Arena Football League's Nashville Kats. McGraw has been married to singer Faith Hill since 1996 and is the eldest son of former MLB pitcher Tug McGraw.
Early life and education.
Samuel Timothy McGraw was born in Delhi, Louisiana, the only child of Elizabeth "Betty" Ann D'Agostino, a waitress from Jacksonville, Florida, and Frank Edwin "Tug" McGraw Jr., a pitcher for the minor league Jacksonville Suns and future star pitcher for the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1966, D'Agostino was a student at Terry Parker High School. She lived in the same apartment building as Tug McGraw, who was playing baseball for Jacksonville. When she became pregnant with McGraw as a teen, D'Agostino's parents sent her to Louisiana to live with relatives. Through his father, McGraw has two half-brothers, Mark and Matthew, and a half-sister named Cari. He also has two younger half-sisters, Tracey and Sandra, through his mother's marriage to Horace Smith.
McGraw grew up believing Smith was his father, and used this stepfather's surname until meeting Tug. At age 11, McGraw discovered his birth certificate while searching in his mother's closet to look for a picture for a school project. Following the discovery, he learned from her who his biological father was and she took him to meet the elder McGraw for the first time. Tug McGraw denied the parentage for seven years until Tim was 18 years old. After that time, the two formed a relationship and remained close until the former baseball star died in 2004.
As a child, McGraw played competitive sports, including baseball, even before the knowledge of who his father was and his professional baseball career. McGraw was also a member of the FFA in high school. Following high school graduation, he attended Northeast Louisiana University on a baseball scholarship, where he was a pre-law major and pledged as a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. A knee injury sustained while playing baseball for the college prevented him from pursuing a professional career in sports.
While in college, McGraw learned to play guitar and would frequently perform and sing for money. He has claimed his roommates often hid the guitar because he was so bad. McGraw followed his mother when she returned to Jacksonville, Florida, in 1987. After the move, he attended Florida Community College at Jacksonville for one term, and occasionally sat in with local bands. In 1989, on the day his hero Keith Whitley died, McGraw dropped out of college to head to Nashville and pursue a musical career.
Music career.
1990s.
"Tim McGraw".
McGraw came to the attention of Curb Records in 1990. After cutting a demo single, McGraw gave a copy to his father. A man who was friends with Curb Records executives heard the demo while driving with Tug one day and recommended that Curb contact the young singer. Several weeks later, he was able to play his tape for Curb executives, after which they signed him to a recording contract. McGraw made his debut with the single "What Room Was the Holiday In", which was released on March 29, 1991, and did not enter the "Billboard" Hot Country Songs chart upon its release. In a 2001 retrospective on McGraw's career in "Billboard", a former program director for Nashville station WSM-FM said that he added the song to the station's playlist because it showed "undeniable promise", while another former program director at WXTU in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, recalled that McGraw's debut single was "terrible" but that he booked the singer to make an appearance at the station due to his father's fame.
Two years later in April 1993, McGraw released his debut album "Tim McGraw", which was commercially unsuccessful and did not sell well. This is his only studio album not to achieve a music recording sales certification or to enter the Top Country Albums charts. Three more singles were released from "Tim McGraw": "Welcome to the Club", "Memory Lane", and "Two Steppin' Mind". None made country Top 40 and the album itself did not chart. Both "Memory Lane" and "Tears in the Rain", another cut from the album, were co-written by Joe Diffie. "Memory Lane" had originally appeared on Keith Palmer's self-titled 1991 debut album.
"Not a Moment Too Soon".
McGraw's second album, entitled "Not a Moment Too Soon", was much more successful than his self-titled debut, and it was the best-selling country album of 1994. Its first single, "Indian Outlaw", sparked controversy, as critics argued that it presented Native Americans in a patronizing way. Some radio stations even chose not to play it. However, the controversy helped spur sales, and the song became McGraw's first Top 10 entry on the U.S. country charts after getting as high as number 8. The song also peaked at number 15 on the "Billboard" Hot 100.
The album's second single, "Don't Take the Girl", became McGraw's first number one on the U.S. country charts, in addition to peaking at number 17 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The song also "helped cement his image as a ruggedly good-looking guy with a sensitive side." By year's end, the third single from the album, "Down on the Farm" peaked at number 2; after that, the album's fourth single, also its title track, became the singer's second number one song in early 1995. The fifth and final single "Refried Dreams" reached number 5. The album sold over 6 million copies, topping the "Billboard" 200 and Top Country Album charts. On the strength of this success, McGraw won Academy of Country Music awards for Album of the Year and Top New Male Vocalist in 1994. "Billboard" named "Not a Moment Too Soon" as the top country album of 1994 on Billboard Year-End.
"All I Want".
McGraw's third studio album, "All I Want", was released in 1995. Just like its predecessor, this album debuted at No. 1 on the country charts. The album even sold over 2 million copies in the United States and reached the Top 5 on the "Billboard" 200. The album's first single, "I Like It, I Love It", became McGraw's third number one on the American country charts and it also peaked at number 25 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. This song also eventually became the goal song for the Nashville Predators once they began their inaugural season and since then has been left unchanged. The album's next two singles, "Can't Be Really Gone" and "All I Want Is a Life" (its partial title track) both made the top 5 at numbers 2 and 5, respectively. The fourth single, "She Never Lets It Go to Her Heart", gave McGraw his fourth number one on the U.S. country charts in 1996. Finishing off the singles was "Maybe We Should Just Sleep on It", which peaked at number 4.
In 1996, McGraw headlined the most successful country tour of the year, The Spontaneous Combustion Tour, with Faith Hill as his supporting act. Hill broke off her engagement to her former producer Scott Hendricks so that she and McGraw could start dating each other; they then married on October 6, 1996.
"Everywhere".
The singer's fourth album, "Everywhere" was released in 1997. It topped the country charts as well and reached No. 2 on the "Billboard" 200, selling 4 million copies. The album spawned six singles. Four of those singles - "It's Your Love" (a duet with Faith Hill), the title track, "Where the Green Grass Grows", and "Just to See You Smile" - reached number one on the country charts. The Country Music Association awarded "Everywhere" its Album of the Year award for 1997. At the 40th Grammy Awards, "It's Your Love" received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Country Collaboration With Vocals and Best Country Song. Both "It's Your Love" and "Just to See You Smile" were the number one country songs of 1997 and 1998 according to "Billboard" Year-End charts; "Just to See You Smile" also set a record for the longest run on the country charts at the time, at 42 weeks. The album's other two singles, "One of These Days" and "For a Little While" both peaked at number 2.
"A Place in the Sun".
McGraw's fifth album, "A Place in the Sun", continued his streak in 1999, debuting atop both the US country and pop album charts and selling 3 million copies. Over 251,000 of those copies were sold during its first week, making this the singer's first number 1 opener on the "Billboard" 200. It produced another four number one hits on the U.S. country charts with "Please Remember Me", "Something Like That", "My Best Friend", and "My Next Thirty Years". "Some Things Never Change" peaked at number 7 on the charts. McGraw also contributed a song for the Grammy-winning tribute album to Bob Wills entitled "Ride With Bob". A cover of "Milk Cow Blues", this song was recorded as a duet with Asleep at the Wheel, whom he had met while performing together at the George Strait Country Music Festival.
McGraw recorded two more duets with his wife in the late-1990s, both of which appeared on her albums. "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me", from her multi-platinum-certified 1998 album "Faith", reached the Top 5 of the US country charts. Her follow-up album, 1999's "Breathe", featured "Let's Make Love", which won a Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Collaboration in 2000.
2000s.
"Greatest Hits".
In 2000, McGraw released his first "Greatest Hits" album, which topped the country albums charts for nine weeks and sold nearly 6 million copies, making this one of the biggest-selling albums in the modern country market. In the latter half of the year, he and Hill went out on the Soul2Soul Tour, playing to sellout crowds in 64 venues, including Madison Square Garden. The tour was one of the top tours of any genre in the U.S. It was also the leading country tour of 2000. While in Buffalo, New York, McGraw and Kenny Chesney became involved in a scuffle with police officers after Chesney attempted to ride a police horse. McGraw came to Chesney's aid after police officers nearby believed the horse was being stolen and tried to arrest him. The two were arrested and charged with assault but were later cleared. During a concert with the George Strait Country Music Festival several weeks later, Hill, dressed as a police officer, made an unscheduled appearance at the end of McGraw's set and led him off the stage.
"Set This Circus Down".
McGraw's sixth studio album, "Set This Circus Down", was released in April 2001. It even spawned four number one hits on the country charts as well, this time with "Grown Men Don't Cry", "Angry All the Time" (with Faith Hill), "The Cowboy in Me", and "Unbroken". The singer provided harmony vocals for Jo Dee Messina's song "Bring On the Rain", which he also produced. That song topped the country charts. Hungry for more of his music, fans downloaded a version of his performance of the song "Things Change" from his appearance at the Country Music Association Awards Show. The song was played extensively on radio, becoming the first country song to appear on the charts from a fully downloaded version.
"Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors".
In 2002, McGraw bucked country music traditions by recording his seventh studio album "Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors" with his tour band The Dancehall Doctors. Unlike rock music—where it is commonplace for touring bands to provide the music on albums recorded by the artist they support, country albums are typically recorded with session musicians. McGraw chose to use his own touring band, in order to recognize their part in
his success, and to capture some of the feel of a real band.
All of the Dancehall Doctors have worked with McGraw since at least 1996. Their lineup includes:
The album debuted at No. 2 on the country albums charts, Its fourth and fifth singles "Real Good Man" and "Watch the Wind Blow By" both climbed to number one on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot Country Songs chart. "She's My Kind of Rain" peaked at No. 2 in 2003, and "Red Rag Top" reached number 5. The album also features a cover of Elton John's early-1970s classic "Tiny Dancer," as well as duets with Kim Carnes on "Comfort Me" (a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks) and Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles on "Illegal." "She's My Kind of Rain" also received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Vocal Performance-Male at the 46th Grammy Awards.
"Live Like You Were Dying".
His eighth album, 2004's "Live Like You Were Dying", continued the singer's record of commercial success. The album's first single and its title track was dedicated to his father Tug McGraw, who died of a brain tumor earlier in the year, was an ode to living life fully and in the moment. The second single "Back When" was a paean to an easy nostalgia. In December 2019, McGraw spoke on stage at the annual End Well Symposium about why he wrote "Live Like You Were Dying" and his struggles with caregiving for his dying father. "Live Like You Were Dying" spent seven non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on "Billboard" and went on to become the top country song of 2004 on the "Billboard" Year-End charts. It also became one of the most awarded records by winning ACM Single and Song of the Year, CMA Single and Song of the Year, and a Grammy. "Back When" went to number one on the country charts as well. The album produced three more singles with "Drugs or Jesus", "Do You Want Fries with That", and "My Old Friend". "Drugs or Jesus" became McGraw's first single since 1993 to not ever reach within the Top 10 on the U.S. country charts, while "Do You Want Fries with That" and "My Old Friend" peaked at numbers 5 and 6, respectively.
In late 2004, his unlikely duet with hip hop artist Nelly on "Over and Over" became a crossover hit, spending 10 weeks atop the top 40 chart. "Over and Over" brought McGraw a success he had never previously experienced on contemporary hit radio or R&B radio, and brought both artists success neither had previously experienced in the hot adult contemporary market. The song also spent a week at the top of the charts in the United Kingdom, becoming McGraw's first hit single in Britain and Nelly's third number one hit in the country after "Dilemma" and "My Place". "Over and Over" also reached the top of the charts in Australia, New Zealand, and the Republic of Ireland, and the top 10 in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Romania, and Switzerland.
Throughout the 2005 NFL season, McGraw sang an alternate version of "I Like It, I Love It" every week during the season. The alternate lyrics, which changed each week, would make reference to plays during Sunday's games, and the song would be played alongside video highlights during halftime on "Monday Night Football". Later in the year, McGraw became a minority owner of the Arena Football League's Nashville Kats when majority owner Bud Adams (owner of the NFL's Tennessee Titans) was awarded the expansion franchise.
"Let It Go".
In April 2006, McGraw and Hill began their 73-concert 55-city Soul2Soul II Tour, again to strong commercial acceptance. The tour grossed roughly $89 million and sold approximately 1.1 million tickets, making it the top-grossing tour in the history of country music. It was also named "Major Tour of the Year" by "Pollstar", beating out such heavyweights as Madonna and the Rolling Stones. In a special gesture, the couple donated all of the profits from their performance in New Orleans to Hurricane Katrina relief. McGraw, along with Kenny Chesney, contributed to a version of Tracy Lawrence's song "Find Out Who Your Friends Are", which can be found on Lawrence's album "For the Love". Although the official single version features only Lawrence's vocals, many stations have opted to play the version with McGraw and Chesney instead.
McGraw released his eleventh studio album, "Let It Go", on March 27, 2007. The album's first single, "Last Dollar (Fly Away)", peaked at number one on the Hot Country Songs chart. This marked McGraw's first No. 1 single since "Back When" in late 2004. The album debuted at No. 1 on both the "Billboard" 200 and Top Country Album charts, marking his fourth No. 1 album on the 200 charts and his ninth overall. His daughters can be heard singing the chorus during the last few seconds of the song on the video. During the Academy of Country Music awards show on May 15, 2007, McGraw performed a song titled "If You're Reading This", which he co-wrote with The Warren Brothers. Several radio stations began to play the live recording of the song; as a result, it entered the U.S. "Billboard" Hot Country Songs chart at No. 35. McGraw also produced the debut album of country music duo Halfway to Hazard. The duo's first single, "Daisy", peaked at No. 39 on the country charts in the summer of 2007. In the summer of 2007, McGraw and Hill toured together once again in the Soul2Soul 2007 tour.
In the edition of January 18, 2008 of the "USA Today" newspaper, McGraw was stated to be featured on the Def Leppard album "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge", having also co-written the first single, "Nine Lives", with Def Leppard band members Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, and Rick Savage. The unusual pairing goes back to 2006 when McGraw joined Def Leppard onstage for the song "Pour Some Sugar On Me", and then collaborated on the song "Nine Lives" afterward. The album was released on April 25, 2008. At the 2007 50th Annual Grammy Awards, McGraw received 5 nominations including Best Country Album (for "Let It Go"), Best Country Song (both for "If You're Reading This" and "I Need You"), Best Country Collaboration with Vocals (with "I Need You"), and Best Male Country Vocal Performance (with "If You're Reading This"). In May 2008, he hit the road with the Live Your Voice tour. The mainly-outdoor arena concert tour was his first solo outing in nearly three years. Also in May 2008, he debuted a new song in his follow-up to "Let It Go" at the Stagecoach Music Festival in Indio, California. In July 2008, the album's sixth single and its title track, "Let It Go", was released to country radio. Following that, a seventh single, "Nothin' to Die For", entered the Country charts at No. 57 in late December. McGraw released his third greatest-hits package, "Greatest Hits 3" on October 7, 2008. The album features 12 tracks. McGraw was set to debut a new song at the 2009 ACM Awards, but then canceled his performance; he was replaced by Blake Shelton, who sang "She Wouldn't Be Gone".
"Southern Voice".
McGraw's twelfth studio album, "Southern Voice", was released October 20, 2009, and led by the single "It's A Business Doing Pleasure With You", which was shipped to radio outlets in late June 2009.
"Southern Voice" was argued to be McGraw's last album for Curb Records, following the dispute over releasing his third Greatest Hits collection back in October 2008 without his permission. McGraw did not approve of the release. On November 30, 2010, Curb Records released his fourth greatest hits compilation, "Number One Hits".
2010s.
"Emotional Traffic" and Curb Records lawsuit.
On January 2, 2011, McGraw announced plans for his Emotional Traffic Tour featuring opening acts Luke Bryan and The Band Perry.
Sirius XM announced on March 30, 2011, that they would be launching Tim McGraw radio, a commercial-free music channel devoted to McGraw's music, and featuring an in-depth interview with McGraw as well. As of fall 2010, McGraw had finished work on the album "Emotional Traffic", his last album with Curb Records. On May 13, 2011, Curb Records filed a breach-of-contract suit against McGraw. The label alleged that McGraw recorded tracks for his "Emotional Traffic" album too early prior to its delivery to the label. Several days later, McGraw filed a counter suit against the label seeking advance payment and recording-fund reimbursement, unspecified damages, and a jury trial. A trial was scheduled to begin in July 2012. In November 2011, a judge granted McGraw permission to record music for another label, ending his relationship with Curb Records that began in 1990. A few hours after the ruling, Curb released "Better Than I Used to Be", the first single from "Emotional Traffic". The album was released on January 24, 2012.
"Two Lanes of Freedom".
In December 2011, McGraw released his first Christmas single, "Christmas All Over the World", on his own label StyleSonic Records. On May 21, 2012, however, he signed with Big Machine Records.
McGraw's debut album for Big Machine, entitled "Two Lanes of Freedom", was released on February 5, 2013. It debuted at number 2 on the charts by selling 108,000 copies. The album includes the singles "Truck Yeah", "One of Those Nights", "Highway Don't Care" (a duet with Taylor Swift which also features Keith Urban on lead guitar), and "Southern Girl". McGraw performed at the festival in London on March 16, 2013.
"Love Story" and "Sundown Heaven Town".
McGraw released a single titled "Lookin' for That Girl" in January 2014 as the lead-off single to his second album for Big Machine. It was followed immediately by the announcement of the Sundown Heaven Town Tour. The album, titled "Sundown Heaven Town", was released on September 16, 2014. Four months into its run, "Lookin' for That Girl" was withdrawn as a single and replaced with "Meanwhile, Back at Mama's", which features backing vocals from Hill. "Shotgun Rider" became the album's third single and a number 1 Country Airplay hit by the end of 2014. Following it was "Diamond Rings and Old Barstools", a duet with Catherine Dunn. McGraw's eighth greatest hits album, "Love Story", is a compilation of his twelve biggest love songs and two previously unreleased recordings. It was released exclusively through Walmart on February 4, 2014, by Curb Records.
"Damn Country Music".
On August 10, 2015, McGraw released a new single to digital retailers, titled "Top of the World", which was later released to radio on August 17, 2015, as the lead single to his third studio album for Big Machine Records. On September 17, McGraw announced that the album was titled "Damn Country Music", with a release date scheduled for November 6. The album's second single, "Humble and Kind", released to country radio on February 1, 2016, and went on to reach number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country charts. McGraw was selected as one of 30 artists to perform on "Forever Country", a mash-up track of Take Me Home, Country Roads, On the Road Again and I Will Always Love You which celebrates 50 years of the CMA Awards. The album's third single, "How I'll Always Be" released to country radio on July 11, 2016. It reached number 3 on the Country Airplay in January 2017.
"The Rest of Our Life".
On October 4, 2016, during a show at the Ryman Auditorium, McGraw and Hill announced that they would be going back on the road together again on the . The tour began on April 7, 2017, in New Orleans and will continue into 2018, incorporating the festival held in the UK and Ireland throughout March 2018.
Before the commencement of the tour, it was reported that McGraw, alongside Hill, had signed a new deal with Sony Music Nashville. The signing also indicated the release of a duet album between the couple, and that multiple solo recordings would be produced. The new record label signing also preceded the release of "Speak to a Girl", the lead single from the duet album, "The Rest of Our Life", which was released on November 17, 2017. The release of the album coincided with the opening of an exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum titled "Mississippi Woman, Louisiana Man", which celebrates the careers of both McGraw and Hill.
McGraw released two major best-selling books in 2019, with the first co-written with "Pulitzer Prize" winner Jon Meacham which reached No. 2 on the New York Times Bestsellers list. Songs of America: Patriotism, Protest, and the Music That Made a Nation. New York: Random House. 2019. . His second book, "Grit and Grace", also reached No. 2 on the New York Times Bestsellers list.
2020s.
"Here on Earth".
In February 2020, McGraw rejoined Big Machine Records, which he was previously signed to from 2011 to 2017. He released a new album, "Here on Earth", on August 21, 2020. The "Here on Earth Tour" was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, McGraw released the single "Undivided" with Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line, which was included on a deluxe edition of "Here on Earth" released later that year. On October 9, 2021, McGraw confronted a heckler at a performance at the Nugget Events Center in Sparks, Nevada, after he forgot the words to his song "Just to See You Smile." After removing the heckler, he explained that he had been filming a movie and had a lot on his mind, and asked for the audience's help in remembering the words.
"Standing Room Only" and "Poet's Resumé".
On August 25, 2023, McGraw released his sixteenth studio album, "Standing Room Only". The title track was released as the album's lead single on March 10, 2023. It reached number 2 on the U.S. Country Airplay chart. Three months after releasing "Standing Room Only", McGraw surprise-released a six-track EP, "Poet's Resumé" on November 21, 2023.
Production career.
McGraw has occasionally served as a record producer in collaboration with Byron Gallimore, who has co-produced all of his albums. The two co-produced Jo Dee Messina's self-titled debut, as well as her next two albums, "I'm Alright" and "Burn". McGraw and Gallimore also produced the only album released by The Clark Family Experience in 2000, and Halfway to Hazard's 2007 self-titled debut album.
Acting career.
McGraw's first acting appearance came in a 1997 episode of "The Jeff Foxworthy Show", where he played Foxworthy's rival. In 2004, McGraw played a sheriff in Rick Schroder's independent release "Black Cloud". Later in the same year, McGraw received critical acclaim as the overbearing father of running back "Donald Billingsley" in the major studio Texas high school football drama "Friday Night Lights". The "Dallas Observer" said the role was "played with unexpected ferocity by country singer Tim McGraw". The movie went on to gross over $60 million worldwide at the box office, and sold millions in the DVD market. Most recently, it was named one of the Top 50 High School Movies of All Time (No. 37) by "Entertainment Weekly".
McGraw's first lead role was in the 2006 film "Flicka", which was released in theaters October 20, 2006. In the remake of the classic book "My Friend Flicka", McGraw played the father, Rob, costarring with Alison Lohman and Maria Bello. The family-friendly movie debuted in the top 10 list and has grossed over $25 million at the box office. McGraw again achieved critical acclaim for his acting. Shortly before "Flicka" opened, McGraw received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star is located at 6901 Hollywood Boulevard near stars honoring Julie Andrews, William Shatner, and the late Greta Garbo. One of his "Flicka" co-stars, Alison Lohman, attended the ceremony that included comments from Billy Bob Thornton, McGraw's co-star in the film "Friday Night Lights". In addition to acting in "Flicka", McGraw served as executive producer of the soundtrack album, which was released by his record label, StyleSonic Records, in association with Curb Records and Fox 2000 films. It featured the closing credit song "My Little Girl", one of the first two songs that McGraw recorded that he also co-wrote (the other being "I've Got Friends That Do", both of which were included on "Greatest Hits Vol. 2"). The song was nominated by the Broadcast Film Critics for "Best Song" in a film, and the movie was nominated in the category "Best Family Film (Live Action)". The movie proved to be another success in the DVD market, and has sold over a million copies, debuting at No. 3 on the DVD sales chart.
McGraw also had a small part in the Michael Mann–produced 2007 film "The Kingdom", reuniting him with "Friday Night Lights" director Peter Berg. McGraw played a bitter, angered widower whose wife was killed in the terrorist attack that is the centerpiece of the movie. On November 22, 2008, McGraw made his first appearance on "Saturday Night Live". He also played "Dallas McVie" in "Four Christmases". McGraw appeared in the 2009 film "The Blind Side" as Sean Tuohy, husband of Sandra Bullock's character, Leigh Anne Tuohy. "The Blind Side" is based on the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, taken in and adopted by the Tuohys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. He is among the stars of "Dirty Girl", a film that premiered on September 12, 2010, at the Toronto Film Festival, along with Juno Temple, Milla Jovovich, William H. Macy and Dwight Yoakam. Also in 2010, McGraw starred in "Country Strong" as James Canter, the husband and manager of the fictional country singer Kelly Canter (portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow). In addition to his appearance in the film, McGraw's song "Me and Tennessee", a duet with Paltrow, was played during the closing credits and appears on the film's soundtrack. In 2015, McGraw appeared in Brad Bird's "Tomorrowland" as Eddie Newton, a NASA engineer, and Casey Newton's (played by Britt Robertson) father.
"1883", a spinoff prequel to Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone television series was released in late 2021 and stars McGraw, Faith Hill, and Sam Elliott.
Charitable efforts.
In 1994, when McGraw first reached fame, he established the annual Swampstock event. It began as a charity softball game to raise money for hometown little league programs; the event now includes a celebrity softball game and a multi-artist concert that attracts over 11,000 fans per year. The combined events have funded new Little League parks and equipment, and have established college scholarship funds for students in the northeast Louisiana area.
From 1996 to 1999, McGraw hosted an annual New Year's Eve concert in Nashville with special guests including Jeff Foxworthy, the Dixie Chicks, and Martina McBride. The 1997 show raised over $100,000 for the Country Music Foundation Hall of Fame and Museum. Beginning in 1999, McGraw would pick select cities on each tour, and the night before he was scheduled to perform, would choose a local club and host a quickly-organized show. This tour-within-a-tour became known as "The Bread and Water Tour", and all proceeds from the show would go to a charity from that community.
McGraw designed a charity T-shirt sold through Angelwear to benefit MusiCares. MusiCares supports musicians in times of need. His charity focuses particularly on health issues. The Tim McGraw Foundation raises funds to enhance the quality of life of children and adults with brain tumors. He supports the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, the David Foster Foundation, which helps families of children in need of organ transplants, and Musicians on Call, which brings music to hospital patients' bedsides. He also performs during dinners and auctions to benefit children with disabilities. Hill and McGraw gave the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society $375,000 (the entire gate receipts from one of their concerts) to assist the families of 17 sailors following the terrorist attack on , the guided-missile destroyer that suffered significant damage in the Gulf of Aden, Yemen on October 12, 2000.
In the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina, McGraw who was raised in Mississippi, joined groups taking supplies to Gulfport, Mississippi. The two also hosted several charity concerts to benefit those who were displaced by the storm. Later in the year, the couple established the Neighbor's Keeper Foundation, which provides funding for community charities to assist with basic humanitarian services, in the event of a natural disaster, or for desperate personal circumstances.
McGraw is also a member of the American Red Cross National Celebrity Cabinet, to which various celebrities donate their time, skills, and fame, to help the Red Cross highlight important initiatives and response efforts.
McGraw has helped out with charity events held by Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre. The Brett Favre Fourward Foundation has featured McGraw performing concerts during dinners and auctions that benefit children with disabilities in Wisconsin and Mississippi. One instance is recorded on Favre's official website.
On July 12, 2007, it was made public that McGraw while in Grand Rapids, Michigan for a performance, donated $5,000 to Kailey Kozminski, the 3-year-old daughter of Officer Robert Kozminski, a Grand Rapids police officer who was killed on July 8, 2007, while responding to a domestic disturbance.
In April 2023, McGraw surprised rising country star Brandon Davis, whom he previously brought on tour with him in 2022, with a new guitar after all of his gear was stolen earlier in the month.
Personal politics.
In a 2006 interview with "Esquire" magazine, McGraw stated he would like to run for public office as a Democratic Party candidate, possibly for United States Senate or Governor of Tennessee—his home state. In the same interview, he praised Bill Clinton.
In a 2008 interview with "People" magazine, McGraw referred to himself as a "Blue Dog Democrat" and stated that he and his family support Barack Obama.
In January 2021, McGraw performed on the "Celebrating America" inaugural special, a primetime virtual concert celebrating the inauguration of Joe Biden.
Personal life.
McGraw married fellow country singer Faith Hill in 1996, and they have three daughters. He and Hill own Goat Cay, which they unofficially named L'île d'Anges, a private island in the Bahamas.
In 2000, Kenny Chesney and McGraw became involved in a scuffle with police officers in Buffalo, New York, after Chesney was riding a State Police horse and refused to get off the horse. McGraw came to Chesney's aid after police officers nearby believed the horse was being stolen. The two were arrested and charged, Chesney for disorderly conduct and McGraw for assault, but were acquitted in 2001.
McGraw holds a private pilot license and owns a single-engine Cirrus SR22.
In 2015, "Forbes" estimated McGraw's annual income at $38 million.
McGraw is the godfather to the son of Garrett Hedlund and Emma Roberts. He and Hedlund became friends after co-starring in "Friday Night Lights" and "Country Strong".
In acknowledgment of his grandfather's Italian heritage, McGraw was honored by the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) in 2004, receiving the NIAF Special Achievement Award in Music during the Foundation's 29th Anniversary Gala.
McGraw's Bracco Italiano named Lepshi won Best of Breed at the 2023 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The McGraw-Hill family also has two other Bracco Italianos, Caesar and Stromboli.
Tours.
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References.
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