Tennessee Waltz
"Tennessee Waltz" is a popular country music song with lyrics by Redd Stewart and music by Pee Wee King[4] written in 1946 and first released in January 1948. The song became a multimillion seller via a 1950 recording – as "The Tennessee Waltz" – by Patti Page.
For other uses, see Tennessee Waltz (disambiguation)."Tennessee Waltz"
February 26, 1948 by Acuff-Rose Publications, Inc., Nashville[2]
January 26, 1948[1]
December 2, 1947[3]
RCA Victor Studios, Studio A, Chicago, Illinois[3]
2:57
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 gender of the singer.
The popularity of "Tennessee Waltz" made it the fourth official song of the state of Tennessee in 1965.[5] Page's recording was inducted into Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.[6]
Composition and early recordings[edit]
Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart, and their fellow Golden West Cowboys members were en route to Nashville "close to Christmas in 1946" when King and Stewart, who were riding in a truck carrying the group's equipment, heard Bill Monroe's new song "Kentucky Waltz" on the radio. Stewart had an idea to write a Tennessee waltz using the melody of King's theme song: "No Name Waltz", and wrote the lyrics on a matchbox as he and King thought up the words.[7] King and Stewart presented "Tennessee Waltz" to music publisher Fred Rose the next day, and Rose adjusted one line in the bridge of Stewart's lyric from "O the Tennessee waltz, O the Tennessee Waltz," to "I remember the night and the Tennessee Waltz."
Almost a year passed before Pee Wee King's Golden West Cowboys were able to record "Tennessee Waltz". Their recording, made on December 2, 1947 at the RCA Victor Studio in Chicago[3] was released as Victor (20–2680) the following month.[8] 300,000 copies were sold for this release.[9]
Acuff-Rose Music, the publisher, did not immediately register a copyright to the song when it was presented to the company by King and Stewart and did not obtain the "consummate proof of ownership, and the key to protecting a songwriter's property" until February 1948.[10]
A version by Cowboy Copas, a former member of the Golden West Cowboys was released by King Records (King 696) two months later in March 1948.[11] 80,000 copies were sold.[9]
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 No. 3 (Pee Wee King's Golden West Cowboys)[12] and No. 6 (Cowboy Copas).[13]
"The Tennessee Waltz"
"Boogie Woogie Santa Claus (original release)"
"Long, Long Ago" (reissue)
November 1950
November 1950
3:06
Other contemporary versions[edit]
The success of the Patti Page version led to covers by Les Paul with Mary Ford (Capitol 1316) and Jo Stafford (Columbia 39065) both of which reached the Top Ten – Stafford's at No. 7 and Paul/Ford at No. 6 (the latter was a double-sided hit with "Little Rock Getaway" reaching number 18).[25] Also in 1951, the version by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians (Decca 27336) reached No. 6 in the US.[26] Guy Lombardo's version sold nearly 600,000 copies while Les Paul sold 500,000 copies by May 1951.[9]
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 1951. In addition, the original version – credited to Pee Wee King – was re-released to reach No. 6 C&W in 1951. A further 100,000 copies were sold in addition to the 300,000 copies sold in the previous release.[9]
Spike Jones and his City Slickers recorded a parody featuring a duet with singers sporting Yiddish accents, and this version reached No. 13 in January 1951.[25] A version by Anita O'Day & the All Stars Top Songs reached No. 24.
Other recordings were made by Petula Clark for the UK market, and by Chiemi Eri for the Japanese market.
Other performances[edit]
The University of Tennessee Pride of the Southland Band performs Tennessee Waltz at the end of each home game at Neyland Stadium and Thompson–Boling Arena in Knoxville as the fans are filing out of those venues. East Tennessee State University's Marching Bucs perform the song during their pregame show. After every home game, the Appalachian State University Marching Mountaineers and the Middle Tennessee State University Band of Blue perform the song during their post-game show. Baylor University's Golden Wave Band plays the song at the end of each home game, a tradition possibly begun with a request from former head coach Grant Teaff.[36] The Tennessee Waltz is also the corps song of Music City Drum and Bugle Corps, a Drum Corps International World Class corps from Nashville. The UTC Marching Mocs perform the Tennessee Waltz during their pregame show.
Use in media[edit]
The song was also used in an instrumental form in the final scenes of the film Primary Colors where Jack Stanton dances with his wife at his Inauguration Ball. It was also used briefly during the 1983 drama film, The Right Stuff. John Huston's 1979 Wise Blood, an adaptation of a Flannery O'Connor novel, uses an instrumental version during the opening montage and as a recurrent musical theme throughout the picture. Also at the beginning of the French movie Les Cowboys (2015), the song was played by François Damiens. Patti Page's version features in Zabriskie Point. The song is also featured in the Schitt's Creek TV series, season 1 episode 12, "Surprise Party" and in the 1999 Japanese film Poppoya. In season 2 episode 11, "Triangle" of the original TV series Dallas it is faintly heard being played during a cocktail party.