Oh Lonesome Me

"Oh Lonesome Me" is a popular song written and recorded in December 1957 by Don Gibson with Chet Atkins^[1] producing for RCA Victor in Nashville. Released in 1958, the song topped the country chart for eight non-consecutive weeks in addition to reaching No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[2] Its B-side was "I Can't Stop Loving You", which peaked at #7 on the C&W Jockey charts and became a standard song about unrequited love.^[3] The vocal backing on both songs were provided by the Jordanaires.

The Kentucky Headhunters version

The song was covered by The Kentucky Headhunters in 1990. Their version went to number 8, which was the band's highest-peaking single.^[4]

Chart performance

Year-end charts

Cover versions

• 1959: Sacha Distel recorded a swinging jazz version, "Oh quelle nuit", sung in French
• 1961: Johnny Cash (went to #13)^[8]
• 1962: Craig Douglas released a cover version in Great Britain on Decca Records under the production of Bunny Lewis.^[9] Douglas' version entered the British singles charts on October 20, 1962, stayed there for twelve weeks and the best position was as # 11.^[10]
• 1962: Ray Charles on his album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Volume Two^[11]
• 1965: The Beau Brummels on the album Introducing the Beau Brummels
• 1966: Trío los Panchos^[12]
• 1970: Neil Young covered the song on his album After the Gold Rush, turning Gibson's lighthearted lament into a retro dirge (Stephen Stills is the back-up voice on the bridge and at the end of the third verse)
• 1970: Stonewall Jackson (went to #63)^[13]
• 1970: We Five on their album Catch the Wind^[14]
• 1975: Loggins and Messina (went to #92), which was the duo's only entry on the country music charts^[15]
• 1975: Moe Bandy recorded it on his album Bandy The Rodeo Clown
• 1977: Los Pasteles Verdes from Peru; Spanish version called "El Solitario"
• 2009: M. Ward and Lucinda Williams performed it for his album Hold Time.
• Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood recorded a version of the song.

Several other artists have covered the song for their albums as a "filler" or "album cut". A group of child singers who record under the name The Countdown Kids covered the song for a children's country music CD, which sounds very similar to Gibson's original recording.

Former The Brady Bunch child star Maureen McCormick performed the song in the Barbara Mandrell TV biopic Get To The Heart: The Barbara Mandrell Story.

References

External links

• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

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