Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

Help support this site! Consider clicking an ad from time to time. Thanks!

 
« Go Back to Previous Page «  

Tagged: Jim Reeves

1950s, Country

He’ll Have to Go

First recorded by Billy Brown (1959).
Hit versions by Jim Reeves (US #2/C&W #1/R&B #13/UK #12/CAN #1/AUS #1/NOR #1 1959), Solomon Burke (US #51/R&B #17 1964).
Also recorded by Elvis Presley (1976).

From the wiki: “‘He’ll Have to Go’ was written by Joe Allison and Audrey Allison.

“Joe first worked in the early 1940s as a commercial artist before embarking on a career in the entertainment industry, first as a disc jockey on a Paris, Texas radio station. In 1945, after a few years on radio, Allison took a job as the emcee for the North American tour of country music singing star Tex Ritter. While working on tour, he offered Ritter a song he had written called ‘When You Leave, Don’t Slam the Door’, which the singer turned into a #1 hit on the Country music charts. This success ultimately led to Allison moving to a radio station in Nashville, Tennessee where he remained until accepting an offer from a radio station in Pasadena, California.

“In 1959, Joe and Audrey co-wrote their most famous song, ‘He’ll Have to Go’, which was initially recorded by Billy Brown. A subsequent version by Jim Reeves become a platinum record, and the song would be recorded successfully by more than one hundred other artists including Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, Tom Jones, Eddy Arnold, and even big band leader Guy Lombardo. That same year, Allison was hired by Liberty Records to create their Country music department. It was at Liberty that Joe signed Willie Nelson to his first recording contract.

Read more →

1950s, Country

Caribbean

Written and first released by Mitchell Torok with the Louisiana Hayride Band (US #26/C&W #1 1953).
Other hit version by Mitchell Torok (US #27 1957).

From the wiki: “‘Caribbean’ was written and first recorded in 1953 by Mitchell Torok. It became a Country #1 single, and also charted in the US Top 40. In 1957, Torok recorded an updated but very similarly-arranged version of ‘Caribbean’ and it again charted in the US Top 40.

Read more →

1900s, Pop

Melody of Love

First recorded by The Edison Symphony Orchestra (1903).
Hit versions by Billy Vaughn & His Orchestra (US #2 1955), David Carroll & His Orchestra (US #9 1955), The Four Aces (US #11 1955), Frank Sinatra (US #19 1955), The Ink Spots (UK #10 1955), Jim Reeves (B-side C&W #10 1970).

From the wiki: “‘Melody of Love’ was originally written by Hans Engelmann and first recorded in 1903 by the Edison Symphony Orchestra, with lyrics added in 1954 by Tom Glazer (‘On Top of Spaghetti‘).

“An instrumental version recorded by Billy Vaughn in 1955, one of several instrumental and vocal versions released that year, became the highest-charting arrangement of ‘Melody of Love’ on the Billboard charts in 1955. Arrangements by David Carroll, the Four Aces, Frank Sinatra, and, in the UK, the Ink Spots, also charted.

Read more →

1960s, Pop

Make the World Go Away

First recorded by Timi Yuro (US #24/CAN #11 1963).
Other hit versions by Ray Price (C&W #1 1963), Eddy Arnold (US #6/C&W #1/MOR #1 1965), Donny & Marie Osmond (US#44/MOR #31/UK #18 1975).
Also recorded by Jim Reeves (1964).

From the wiki: “‘Make the World Go Away’ was composed by Hank Cochran (‘I Fall to Pieces’) and first recorded by Timi Yuro in June, 1963. It has become a Top 40 popular success three times: for Yuro (1963), for Eddy Arnold (1965), and for the brother-sister duo Donny & Marie Osmond (1975) and topped the Country Singles chart (Ray Price, 1963). ‘Make the World Go Away’ was also recorded in July, 1964 by Jim Reeves, at his last recording session before dying in a plane crash two weeks later, for what would become the album The Jim Reeves Way.

“For Price, ‘Make the World Go Away’ was one of his first songs to feature an orchestra and female chorus, a trend that he would continue with other songs like ‘For the Good Times’. Arnold’s production was similarly recorded, the so-called ‘Nashville Sound’, an early mixture of Pop with Country music, and became one of the most popular recordings of 1960s Country music and is generally considered to be Arnold’s best-known song.”

Read more →