I Love You Because (song)

"I Love You Because" is a 1949 song written and originally recorded by Leon Payne. The single went to number four on the Billboard Country & Western Best Seller lists and spent two weeks at number one on the Country & Western Disk Jockey List, spending a total of thirty-two weeks on the chart.^[1] "I Love You Because" was Payne's only song to make the country charts.

Cover versions

"I Love You Because" has been covered by several artists throughout the years:

• In 1950, Ernest Tubb (No. 2) and Clyde Moody each recorded their own version both making the Top 10 on the Country & Western charts.
• Elvis Presley
• Hank Locklin
• Johnny Cash (No. 20 in 1960)
• Matt Monro
• Carl Smith (No. 14 in 1969)
• Slim Whitman
• Jerry Lee Lewis
• George Jones
• Willie Nelson
• Jean Shepard
• Ray Price

• In 1963, Al Martino recorded the most successful version of the song peaking at number three on the Hot 100 and number one on the Middle-Road (or Easy Listening) chart for two weeks in May that year.^[2]
• In 1964, Jim Reeves took the song to number five in the UK. In 1976, the song was the title track of a posthumous Jim Reeves album, which peaked at number 24 on the US Country chart. The single version reached number 54 in the US that year.
• In 1983, Roger Whittaker got the song "into the lower reaches of the country chart." ^[3]

Chart performance

Jim Reeves

See also

• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1963 (U.S.)

References