Singing the Blues
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| "Singing the Blues" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City | ||||
| Genre | Rock and roll | |||
| Length | 2:31 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Melvin Endsley | |||
| Producer(s) | Mitch Miller | |||
| Guy Mitchell singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Singing the Blues" is a
Guy Mitchell
The best-known recording was released in October 1956 by
Marty Robbins and Tommy Steele versions
Two other charting versions of the song were released almost simultaneously with Mitchell's, one by the English singer Tommy Steele (with the Steelmen) and the other (recorded before Mitchell covered it)[4] by US country singer Marty Robbins.[5]
Tommy Steele's version of "Singing the Blues" made number 1 in the
The Marty Robbins version made it to number one on the Billboard C&W Best Sellers chart for 13 weeks in late 1956 and early 1957[7] and peaked at number seventeen on the US pop chart.[8] In 1983, Gail Davies recorded a cover version, taking her version into the top 20 of the Hot Country Singles chart in the spring of 1983.
Other cover versions
The song is often revived, and on four occasions new recordings of "Singing the Blues" have become UK Top 40 hits. These latter-day hit versions were by
Charting versions
| Release date | Performer | Chart Positions | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK
[9] |
U.S. | U.S. C&W |
CAN Country | |||
| 1956 | Marty Robbins | — | 17 | 1 | — | — |
| 1956 | Guy Mitchell | 1 | 1 | — | — | Reached number 1 in the UK in early 1957 |
| 1956 | Tommy Steele & the Steelmen | 1 | — | — | — | Reached number 1 in the UK in early 1957 |
| 1964 | Connie Francis & Hank Williams Jr. | |||||
| 1980 | Dave Edmunds | 28 | — | — | — | — |
| 1983 | Gail Davies | — | — | 17 | 19 | — |
| 1994 | Daniel O'Donnell
|
23 | — | — | — | — |
| 1997 | The Kentucky Headhunters | — | — | 70 | — | — |
| 2009 | Cliff Richard & the Shadows | 40 | — | — | — | — |
More cover versions
Trumpeter Bob Scobey and banjoist/vocalist Clancy Hayes recorded a
"Singing the Blues" was performed live by Paul McCartney on the MTV show Unplugged in 1991 and included on the subsequent soundtrack, Unplugged (The Official Bootleg).
Hank Snow did it on his 1969 album on RCA "I Went To Your Wedding".
The song was also performed by Albert Lee.[10]
The tune was also sung by Vivian Vance and William Frawley (Ethel and Fred of I Love Lucy fame) for a Ford Motor Company television commercial promoting the Edsel.
The Californian pop punk band Groovie Ghoulies covered the song on their third album World Contact Day in 1996.
The first line of this song is famously the last line of "London Calling" by the Clash, cut short and echoed in the final mix of the song ("I never felt so much a-like, a-like, a-like...").
Hugues Aufray and his Skiffle Group recorded a French version of the song, "Tout le long du chemin", in 1964.[11]
Use in English football
References
- ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
- ^ Myers, Justin (2 March 2014). "Unstoppable Pharrell scores chart record hat-trick as Happy smashes a". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
- ISBN 9780823076772. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
- ^ Marty Robbins interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)
- ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944–2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 293.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 532.
- ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- YouTube
- ^ "Tout le long du chemin", Discogs.com
