There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight is a song written by Hank Williams and released on MGM Records as the B-side to "Mind Your Own Business" in July 1949.
| "There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Hank Williams With His Drifting Cowboys | ||||
| A-side | "Mind Your Own Business" | |||
| Published | May 4, 1949 Acuff-Rose Publications, Inc.[1] | |||
| Released | July 1949 | |||
| Recorded | December 22, 1948 | |||
| Studio | Herzog Studio, Cincinnati | |||
| Genre | Hillbilly, Honky-tonk, Country blues | |||
| Length | 2:47 | |||
| Label | MGM | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Hank Williams | |||
| Producer(s) | Fred Rose | |||
| Hank Williams With His Drifting Cowboys singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
editAccording to Colin Escott's 2004 memoir Hank Williams: The Biography, country music disc jockey Nelson King always insisted that he had written "There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight" with Williams, and was surreptitiously credited with a half-share of the song.[2] However, the extent of King's contribution is debatable; songwriter Tillman Franks, who Escott writes "had more or less invented payola in the country record business," later recalled a fishing trip he took with Williams and country singer Webb Pierce:
- I'd given Nelson King half of "Three Ways of Knowing" and Hank said, "Franks, you and Pierce have done fucked up business giving these deejays songs." I said, "Hank, I didn't start it. Nelson told me you'd given him half of 'There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight.'" Hank said, "I didn't mean to, I was drunk.'"[2]
Williams' session band was composed of Clyde Baum (mandolin), Zeke Turner (electric guitar), Jerry Byrd (steel guitar), Louis Innis (rhythm guitar), Tommy Jackson (fiddle) and Willie Thawl (bass).[3] The session is notable for being held at a Cincinnati recording studio rather than Castle Studio in Nashville, where Hank usually recorded.
Cover versions
edit- Al Martino recorded the song for Capitol in 1954.
- Tony Bennett recorded the song in 1954.
- Anita Carter released a version of the song in 1954.
- Joni James recorded the song in 1957.
- George Jones cut a version for his 1960 Mercury album George Jones Salutes Hank Williams.
- Adam Wade charted with the song in 1962.
- The song appears on Hank Williams, Jr.'s 1964 LP Sings the Songs of Hank Williams.
- Tennessee Ernie Ford included it on his 1964 release Country Hits...Feelin' Blue.
- Willie Nelson recorded the song for Liberty in the early 1960s.
- Williams' idol Roy Acuff released a version of the song in 1966.
- Roy Orbison included it on his album Hank Williams the Roy Orbison Way in 1970.
- Ray Price recorded the song for his 1976 LP Hank 'N' Me.
References
edit- ^ Library of Congress. Copyright Office. (1949). Catalog of Copyright Entries 1949 Published Music Jan-Dec 3D Ser Vol 3 Pt 5A. United States Copyright Office. U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
- ^ a b Escott, Colin (2004). Hank Williams: The Biography. Back Bay. pp. 94–95. ISBN 0-316-73497-7.
- ^ Escott, Colin (1994). Hank Williams: The Biography. Hachette Digital, Inc. p. 96. ISBN 0-316-24986-6.