COLD COLD HEART

Created on 20/03/2002
Latest update on 17/11/2023

Artist: Hank Williams
Author: Hank Williams
Label: MGM
Year: 1951

B-side of Dear John. Written after visiting his wife Audrey in hospital , recovering from an auto-performed abortion. The flowers he brought her were thrown back in his face. The melody was a rip-off of T Texas Tyler's You'll Still Be In My Heart ('45). There was a legal case still unresolved when Hank died.

Covers:

1951:

Tony Bennett [n°1 US, landing Hank his first tv appearance (in the Perry Como Show)]

1951:

Fontane Sisters [top 20 US]

1951:

Eileen Wilson [top 20 US]

1951:

Dinah Washington [top 3 R&B]

1951:

Louis Armstrong

1953:

Kitty Wells [as My Cold Cold Heart Is Melted Now]

1954:

Eddy Arnold

1957:

Sonny James

1958:

George Hamilton IV

1958:

Barbara Pittman

1958:

Margaret Whiting

1958:

Pat Boone

1959:

Chet Atkins

1959:

June Webb [same melody in Conscience (Set Me Free)]

1960:

Rusty Draper

1960:

Connie Francis

1961:

Bill Haley

1961:

Nat King Cole

1961:

Ronnie Hawkins

1961:

Jerry Lee Lewis [and in the 70's in duet with Elvis impersonator Orion]

1961:

Tennessee Ernie Ford

1961:

Ernest Tubb

1961:

Kitty Wells

1962:

Floyd Cramer

1962:

George Jones

1963:

Big Maybelle

1964:

Johnny Cash

1964:

Wanda Jackson

1964:

Hank Locklin

1964:

Ray Price

1964:

Aretha Franklin

1964:

Hank Williams Jr.

1965:

Del Shannon

1966:

Roy Acuff

1967:

Charlie Rich

1968:

Sons Of The Pioneers

1969:

Stonewall Jackson

1970:

Roy Orbison

1971:

James Darren

1972:

Ace Cannon

1974:

Redd Stewart

1980:

Charlie McCoy

1981:

Bob Dylan [outtake Shot Of Love sessions]

2001:

Lucinda Williams [on Hank Williams tribute]

2001:

Billy Bob Thornton [idem]

2002:

Norah Jones

2002:

Bill Frisell

2005:

Bobby Hebb

2008:

Patty Loveless

2023:

Van Morrison

The fact this country song crossed over (with Tony Bennett a.o.) helped country music out of its rural isolation. Meanwhile Patti Page enjoyed a pop hit with Pee Wee King's Tennessee Waltz. Hank Williams and Pee Wee King were the first country artists enjoying national popularity.

Contact


If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:

Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)

info@originals.be

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