"Endless Sleep" is a "teenage tragedy" pop song written and originally recorded by

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singer

Jody Reynolds Ralph Joseph "Jody" Reynolds (December 3, 1932 – November 7, 2008) was an American rock and roll singer, guitarist, and songwriter whose song "Endless Sleep" was a major U.S. top-ten hit in the summer of 1958. His follow-up single, "Fire of Lo ...

in 1957.

Background

Reynolds wrote the song in 1956, after listening to

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

's "

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", and first performed it soon afterwards at a performance in

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. The song told the story of a teenager whose girlfriend had gone missing after a row:

The night was black, rain fallin' down
Looked for my baby, she's nowhere around
Traced her footsteps down to the shore
Afraid she's gone for ever more

Although record companies initially rejected the song as too depressing, Reynolds eventually had a

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accepted by

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, who agreed that Reynolds record it provided that he changed the song's ending so that the protagonist saved the girl from drowning.:

I looked at the sea and it seemed to say
“You took your baby from me away"
My heart cried out “She's mine to keep"
I saved my baby from an endless sleep.

The song was recorded with echo-drenched vocals, and with Al Casey and

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on guitars. The record label credited the songwriting to Reynolds and the fictitious "Dolores Nance", in order to make it appear to have been written by a 'professional' songwriting team.

Chart performance

Reynolds' recording reached the number 5 position on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on July 7, 1958, sold over one million copies, and inspired a trend of "teen tragedy" songs. The song was reissued in 1979 reaching number 66 on the UK singles chart. Reynolds' recording also went to number 5 on the Most Played R&B By Jockeys chart. A re-recorded version by Reynolds appears the 1984

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compilation LP ''

Teenage Tragedies ''Teenage Tragedies'' (aka ''Teenage Tragedy'') is a compilation album of teen tragedy songs released on Rhino Entertainment, Rhino Records in 1984. Release data The album was conceived and compiled by Rhino Records co-founder Richard Foos. Boa ...

.''

Other versions

*In Britain, the song was covered by

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, whose version reached number 4 on the

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, becoming his first chart hit. The song was later recorded by: *

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's version was a modest country music chart success. *A version by Billy Bremner and Fast Buck was also released as a single

References

{{authority control 1958 songs 1958 singles Teenage tragedy songs Shakin' Stevens songs