The Tennessee Waltz
| "Tennessee Waltz" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Pee Wee King | |
| Released | January 1948 |
| Recorded | December 2, 1947 |
| Genre | Country music |
| Composer(s) | Pee Wee King |
| Lyricist(s) | Redd Stewart |
| Language | English |
"Tennessee Waltz" is a popular country music song with lyrics by Redd Stewart and music by Pee Wee King written in 1946 and first released in January 1948. The song became a multimillion seller via a 1950 recording – as "The Tennessee Waltz" – by Patti Page. As of 1974, it was the biggest selling song ever in Japan.
All versions of the lyrics narrate a situation in which the persona has introduced his or her sweetheart to a friend who then waltzes away with her or him. The lyrics are altered for pronoun gender on the basis of the sex of the singer. The song is self-referential, in that it is a song about itself.
The popularity of "Tennessee Waltz" also made it the fourth official song of the state of Tennessee in 1965.
Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart, and the rest of the Golden West Cowboys were on their way to Nashville "close to Christmas in 1946" when King and Stewart, who were riding in a truck carrying the group's equipment, heard Bill Monroe's new "Kentucky Waltz" on the radio. Stewart had an idea to write a song, a Tennessee waltz using the melody of King's theme song, "No Name Waltz," and wrote the lyrics on a matchbox as he and King thought up the words. King and Stewart presented "Tennessee Waltz" to music publisher Fred Rose the next day, and Rose adjusted one line of Stewart's lyric: "O the Tennessee waltz, O the Tennessee Waltz," to "I remember the night and the Tennessee Waltz."
A considerable amount of time passed before Pee Wee King's Golden West Cowboys were able to record "Tennessee Waltz." Their recording was made in a December 2, 1947 during a session at the RCA Victor Studio in Chicago. Its release as Victor (20-2680) was noted the following month.
Acuff-Rose Music, the publisher, did not immediately register a copyright to the song when it was presented to the company by King and Stewart and did not obtain the "consummate proof of ownership, and the key to protecting a songwriter's property" until February 1948.
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