“Tennessee Waltz” is a popular/country music song with lyrics by Redd Stewart and music by Pee Wee King written in 1946 and first released in December 1947 as a single by Cowboy Copas that same year. The song became a multimillion seller via a 1950 recording – as “The Tennessee Waltz” – by Patti Page. All versions of the lyrics narrate a situation in which the persona has introduced his or her sweetheart to a friend who then waltzes away with her or him. The lyrics are altered for pronoun gender on the basis of the sex of the singer.

The popularity of “Tennessee Waltz” also made it the fourth official song of the state of Tennessee in 1965. As of 1974, it was the biggest selling song ever in Japan. Pee Wee King, and most of his group,the Golden West Cowboys, were riding in a limosine when he and vocalist Redd Stewart co-wrote the song. They were on their way to a Grand Ole Opry appearance in Nashville when they heard the new Bill Monroe’s “Kentucky Waltz” on the radio.

Stewart began writing the lyrics on a matchbox while King and the other musicians hummed King’s theme song, “No Name Waltz.” King and Stewart presented “Tennessee Waltz” to music publisher Fred Rose the next day, and Rose adjusted one line of Stewart’s lyric: “O the Tennessee waltz, O the Tennessee Waltz,” to “I remember the night and the Tennessee Waltz.”

A considerable amount of time passed before Pee Wee King’s Golden West Cowboys were able to record “Tennessee Waltz,” their recording being made in a December 2, 1947 session at the RCA Victor Studio in Chicago. Cowboy Copas, who had formerly vocalized on the Golden West Cowboys’ recordings and who still performed with the group, recorded the song for King Records just after the Golden West Cowboys, with Copas’ version being released just prior to the Golden West Cowboys’: both singles became Top Ten C&W hits – the chart was then known as “Best Selling Folk Retail Records” – in the spring and summer of 1948 with respective peaks of #3 (Pee Wee King’s Golden West Cowboys) and #6 (Cowboy Copas).

Patti Page recorded the song – as “The Tennessee Waltz” – to serve as B-side to the seasonal single “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus” issued by Mercury Records at the end of 1950.

It’s been asserted that Page herself chose to record “Tennessee Waltz,” the C&W version being a favorite song of her father’s, and also that Jerry Wexler, then a record reviewer for Billboard brought “Tennessee Waltz” to the attention of Page’s manager, Jack Rael, by playing him a new R&B rendition by Erskine Hawkins.

Page cut “The Tennessee Waltz” in a November 1950 session in New York City with Rael conducting his orchestra: her vocal was cut multitracked with three voices, with two and as a single voice with Page herself selecting the two voice multitracked vocal featured on the single as released.

“The Tennessee Waltz” entered the Pop Music chart of Billboard dated 10 November 1950 for a 30 week chart run with a #1 peak on the 30 December 1950 chart; the track would remain at #1 for a total of nine weeks. (After the initial pressings “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus” was replaced as the B-side by “Long Long Ago”.) A #2 C&W hit, “The Tennessee Waltz” became Page’s career record.

The success of the Patti Page version led to covers by Les Paul with Mary Ford (Capitol 1316) and Jo Stafford both of which reached the Top Ten – Stafford’s at #7 and Paul/Ford at #6 (the latter was a double sided hit with “Little Rock Getaway” reaching #18). The Fontane Sisters made their first solo recording cutting “Tennessee Waltz” in a November 1950 session at RCA Victor Studios in New York City; the track would reach the Top 20. In addition, the original version – credited to Pee Wee King – was re-released to reach #6 C&W. Other recordings were made by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, for the UK market by Petula Clark and for the Japanese market by Chiemi Eri.

By Patti Page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ek3eCbfqp0

Lyrics