You Belong to Me (1952 song)
| "You Belong to Me" | |
|---|---|
| Sung by Sue Thompson in 1952 | |
| Song by Sue Thompson | |
| Composer(s) | Chilton Price, Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart |
| Lyricist(s) | Chilton Price, Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart |
| Language | English |
"You Belong to Me" is a romantic pop music ballad from the 1950s. The singer reminds his or her beloved love interest, soulmate, or sweetheart that whatever exotic locales and sights he/she experiences, "you belong to me" no matter what happens.
"You Belong to Me" is credited to three writers: Pee Wee King, Chilton Price and Redd Stewart.
Price, a songwriting librarian at WAVE Radio Louisville, had written the song in its virtual entirety as "Hurry Home to Me" envisioning the song as an American woman's plea to a sweetheart serving overseas in World War II. Afforded songwriting credit on the song mostly in exchange for their work in promoting it, King and Stewart did slightly adjust Price's composition musically and lyrically, shifting the focus from a wartime background "into a kind of universal song about separated lovers" and changing the title to "You Belong to Me." Price had previously had success with another hit which she had written, "Slow Poke," under a similar arrangement with the two men.
The first 1952 recording of the song was by Joni James. She had seen the sheet music in the Woods Building in Chicago and the lyrics attracted her. She recorded the song in February, 1952, in Chicago and it was released in March on the local Sharp Records labe as her second single on August 5, 1952, after Jo Stafford, Patti Page and Dean Martin had covered it. James' version also was issued on M-G-M Records for national distribution. The best-known early 1952 version of the song was recorded after James' recording by Sue Thompson on Mercury's country label as catalog number 6407. It was soon covered by Patti Page, whose version was issued by Mercury as catalog number 5899, with "I Went to Your Wedding" (a bigger Patti Page hit, reaching No 1) on the flip side. It entered the Billboard chart on August 22, 1952, and lasted 12 weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 4.
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