| "Cold, Cold Heart" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Hank Williams | ||||
| A-side | "Dear John" | |||
| Released | 1951 | |||
| Recorded | 1951 | |||
| Genre | Country, Honky tonk | |||
| Length | 2:46 | |||
| Writer(s) | Hank Williams | |||
| Hank Williams singles chronology | ||||
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| "Cold, Cold Heart" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cover by Norah Jones from the album Come Away with Me | ||||
| Released | February 26, 2002 | |||
| Recorded | 2001 | |||
| Genre | Jazz fusion | |||
| Length | 3:38 | |||
| Label | Blue Note | |||
| Producer | Norah Jones, Arif Mardin, Jay Newland, Craig Street | |||
| Come Away with Me track listing | ||||
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"Cold, Cold Heart" is a country music and popular music song, written by Hank Williams. This blues ballad is both a classic of honky tonk and an entry in the Great American Songbook.
Williams first recorded and released the song in 1951, originally as the B-side (MGM-10904B) to "Dear John" (MGM-10904A). "Dear John" peaked at #8 after only a brief four-week run on Billboard magazine's country music charts, but "Cold, Cold Heart" proved to be a favorite of disk jockeys and jukebox listeners, whose enthusiasm for the song catapulted it to #1 on the country music charts. The song achingly and artfully describes frustration that the singer's love and trust is unreciprocated due to a prior bad experience in the other's past.
That same year it was recorded in a pop version by Tony Bennett with a light orchestral arrangement from Percy Faith. This recording was released by Columbia Records as catalog number 39449. It first reached the Billboard magazine charts on July 20, 1951 and lasted 27 weeks on the chart, peaking at #1.[1]
The popularity of Bennett's version has been credited with helping to expose both Williams and country music to a wider national audience. Allmusic writer Bill Janovitz discusses this unlikely combination:
Williams subsequently telephoned Bennett to say, "Tony, why did you ruin my song?" But that was a prank – in fact, Williams liked Bennett's version and played it on jukeboxes whenever he could. This story is often related with mirth by Bennett in interviews and on stage; he still performs the song in concert as of 2005.
In his autobiography The Good Life, Bennett described playing "Cold, Cold Heart" at the Grand Ole Opry later in the 1950s. He had brought his usual arrangement charts to give to the house musicians who would be backing him, but their instrumentation was different and they declined the charts. "You sing and we'll follow you," they said, and Bennett says they did so beautifully, once again recreating an unlikely artistic merger.
"Cold, Cold Heart" has since been recorded by countless other artists, including Petula Clark, Johnny Cash, Louis Armstrong (Decca Records catalog number 27816,[2] recorded September 17, 1951), Nat King Cole, Aretha Franklin from "Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Washington" (1964), Bill Haley & His Comets, Rosemary Clooney, Dinah Washington, Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams, Ronnie Hawkins and Raul Malo.
Donald Peers, Instrumental Accompaniment recorded the song in London on October 5, 1951. It was released by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 10158.
Freddy Fender had a Spanish-language hit with his own translation under the title "Tu Frio Corazon".
In the first installment of A&E's "Live By Request" featuring Tony Bennett (who is also the show's creator), special guest Clint Black performed the song, after which Bennett recounted the famous telephone conversation he had had with Hank Williams. Cold, Cold Heart has subsequently been covered by George Jones, David Allan Coe, Guy Mitchell, Teresa Brewer, Dinah Washington, Lucinda Williams, Jerry Lee Lewis, Cowboy Junkies, Frankie Laine, Jo Stafford, and Norah Jones, among others).
| Chart (1951) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 1 |
| Preceded by "I'm Moving On" by Hank Snow |
Billboard Best Selling Retail Folk Records number-one single of the year 1951 (Hank Williams) |
Succeeded by "The Wild Side of Life" by Hank Thompson |
| Preceded by "Because of You" by Tony Bennett |
U.S. Billboard Best Sellers in Stores number-one single November 3–December 8, 1951 (Tony Bennett) |
Succeeded by "(It's No) Sin" by Eddy Howard |
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