Slow Poke

"Slow Poke" is a popular song. It is credited to three writers: Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart, and Chilton Price. Actually Price wrote the song in 1951, as she thought the song described her friend, King, very well. King recorded the song and Stewart did the vocal. Price gave rights to the other two in exchange for publicity, as she felt she knew nothing about the music distribution business. The song did so well commercially that when Price wrote the song "You Belong to Me" the next year, she felt she could do better by ceding partial credit for authorship to King and Stewart than trying to publicize the song herself, so that song as well was credited to King, Stewart, and Price, though Price was the sole author.

The recording by Pee Wee King was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 21-0489 (78rpm) and 48-0489 (45 rpm). It first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on October 21, 1951 and lasted 22 weeks on the chart, peaking at #3. It was his only crossover from the country genre to score on the pop chart. It first reached the country charts on September 21, 1951 and lasted 31 weeks, peaking at #1 and remaining there for 15 weeks. It also topped the Australian charts in May 1952.

The next-best-known version was the recording by Arthur Godfrey, which was released by Columbia Records as catalog number 39632. It first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on December 28, 1951 and lasted 11 weeks on the chart, peaking at #12. This song was one side of a two-sided hit; the flip side, "Dance Me Loose," also reached #12.

The version by Hawkshaw Hawkins, which was released by King Records (USA) as catalog number 998, reached #7 on the country charts, having first charted on December 8, 1951. It lasted 4 weeks on the charts.

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