The song of the day for Tuesday, September 17, 2013 is “Cold, Cold Heart.”
About This Song
“Cold, Cold Heart” was written by Hank Williams in 1951 and released as the B-side with a song called “Dear John.” While “Dear John” was warmly received, “Cold, Cold Heart” was much preferred by the disk jockeys and quickly hit #1 on the country music charts. Tony Bennett recorded it that same year and it was a hit for him. Bill Janowitz at Allmusic.com wrote:
That a young Italian singing waiter from Queens could find common ground with a country singer from Alabama’s backwoods is testament both to William’s skill as a writer and to Bennett’s imagination and artist’s ear.
It’s a beautiful song that Bennett performs to this day.
About This Version
We choose the song today to honor the songwriter Hank Williams, who was born on September 17, 1923 in Mount Olive, Alabama and died, much too young, in 1953.
Today’s version is the original, recorded in May, 1951.
http://open.spotify.com/track/2kChATTuiIliELTKptiNYH
“Cold, Cold Heart,” as well as the full collection of the Columbia Singles, Vol. 1, is available from iTunes.
Tony Bennett often tells the story of how Mitch Miller convinced him to sing “Cold, Cold Heart.” This video from 2007 not only contains a very nice performance of the song, but you can hear Tony’s story as well.