"Dear John" is a song written by Tex Ritter and Aubrey Gass. It is best remembered for being the A-side to

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

' number one hit " Cold, Cold Heart" in 1951 for

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

Background

According to Colin Escott's 2004 biography of Hank Williams, producer Fred Rose initially saw "Cold, Cold Heart" as a B-side and regarded "Dear John" a more appropriate A-side, since jukeboxes preferred up-tempo singles. The song was originally recorded by Jim Boyd, younger brother of

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

-based western swing artist Bill Boyd. Eventually Tex Ritter got a credit on the song likely after promising songwriter Aubrey Gass he would get the song cut by a big name or get Gass a contract with his label Capitol if he got a piece of the composition. Williams recorded the song at the same session that he cut "Cold, Cold Heart," with Fred Rose producing and backing from

Jerry Rivers Jerry Rivers (August 25, 1928 – October 4, 1996) was an American fiddle player. Biography Jerry Rivers was born in Miami, Florida. He played fiddle with the Drifting Cowboys, a band who will be forever associated with their "frontman", the leg ...

(fiddle), Don Helms (steel guitar), Sammy Pruett (electric guitar), Chet Atkins (rhythm guitar), and Ernie Newton or "Cedric Rainwater," aka Howard Watts (bass). As Escott observes: "When Hank and the band hollered the tag line, 'Dear John, I've sent your saddle home,' it invited everyone in the bar, the auditorium, or even the car to holler right along. Once again, the upfront rhythm guitar carried the recording. Hank cruised at the brisk tempo, never once straining." "Cold, Cold Heart" shot to number one in early 1951, and "Dear John" rode on its coattails to number 8 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' country singles chart. In 1996, "Dear John" was referenced by Tracy Lawrence's single "

Time Marches On ''Time Marches On'' is the fourth studio album released by American country music artist Tracy Lawrence. The title track spent three weeks at Number One on the '' Billboard'' country charts in 1996, becoming Lawrence's biggest chart hit to date. " ...

", featuring the lyrics "Hank Williams sings '

Kaw-Liga "Kaw-Liga" ( ) is a country music song written by Hank Williams and Fred Rose. Background "Kaw-Liga" is one of just a handful of songs that Williams wrote with Fred Rose, who produced his records and published his songs through his company Acu ...

' and 'Dear John' and time marches on." "Time Marches On" held the number one spot on ''Billboard''’s

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart for three weeks. In 1999, John Prine covered "Dear John" on his 1999 album '' In Spite of Ourselves.''

References

{{authority control Year of song missing Song recordings produced by Fred Rose (songwriter) Hank Williams songs 1951 songs 1951 singles