"Jealous Heart" is a classic C&W song written by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer-songwriter Jenny Lou Carson. In the mid 1940s it spent nearly six months on the Country & Western charts. It was subsequently recorded by several

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

singers.

Early versions

The first recording of "Jealous Heart" was made in 1944 by its composer Jenny Lou Carson. That 20 September

Tex Ritter Woodward Maurice Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a popular singer and actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John, grandsons Jason and ...

recorded the song: his version spent 23 weeks on the C&W chart peaking at No. 2. The song had its first impact in the pop-music field via a recording by Al Morgan, a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

-based vocalist/pianist whose version of "Jealous Heart" released September 1949 was on the hit parade for six months spending ten weeks in the Top 5. This Al Morgan is not to be confused with the bassist of the same name. Also in 1949

Ivory Joe Hunter Ivory Joe Hunter (October 10, 1914 – November 8, 1974) was an American rhythm-and-blues singer, songwriter, and pianist. After a series of hits on the US R&B chart starting in the mid-1940s, he became more widely known for his hit recordin ...

had an R&B hit with "Jealous Heart"; Hunter's version reached No. 2 R&B that December. "Jealous Heart" - which

Ernest Tubb Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), ...

had recorded in 1945 - was also recorded in 1949 by C&W singers Bill Owens and Kenny Roberts while Pop versions were cut by Bill Lawrence, Jan Garber & His Orchestra (vocal by Bob Grabeau) and Hugo Winterhalter & His Orchestra (vocal by Johnny Thompson). British duo the Tanner Sisters - Frances and Stella - recorded "Jealous Heart" in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

14 October 1949; this version - which retained the lyrics as recorded by Tex Ritter and Al Morgan rather than gender-adjusting them - was released by EMI as HMV#9846 with "

Hop-Scotch Polka "Hop-Scotch Polka (Scotch Hot)" is a popular song based on the Billy Whitlock composition "Scotch Hot", with new lyrics added by Gene Rayburn and Carl Sigman. The song was published on July 6, 1949, by Cromwell Music, Inc., and was soon record ...

" as the flip. This duo should not to be confused with the American female trio of the same name. Lale Andersen enjoyed a European comeback in 1951 with a German-language version of "Jealous Heart" entitled "Blaue Nacht am Hafen": Andersen wrote the German lyrics herself under the name Nicola Wilke.

Early revivals

In the fall of 1958 three recordings of "Jealous Heart" were released with the version by

Tab Hunter Tab Hunter (born Arthur Andrew Kelm; July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018) was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond, clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. He was a Hollywood heartthrob of t ...

reaching No. 62 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 besting

the Fontane Sisters The Fontane Sisters were a trio (Bea, Geri and Marge Rosse) from New Milford, New Jersey. Early years Born to an Italian family, their mother, Louise Rosse, was both a soloist and the leader of the St. Joseph's Church choir in New Milford. Be ...

' version (#94) and also the version by

Les Paul and Mary Ford Les Paul and Mary Ford were a popular 1950s husband-and-wife musical duo who performed and recorded during 1945–1963. They both sang and played guitars. Ford and Paul were music superstars during the first half of the 1950s, putting out 28 hi ...

which did not chart. "Jealous Heart" was also a single for

Bobby Edwards Bobby Edwards (born Robert Edward Moncrief; January 18, 1926 – July 31, 2012) was an American country music singer who recorded between 1959 and 1969. At the beginning of his career he performed and recorded under the name Bobby Moncrief. T ...

in 1959. In the UK the Vernons Girls and

Ottilie Patterson Anna Ottilie Patterson (31 January 1932 – 20 June 2011) was a Northern Irish blues singer best known for her performances and recordings with the Chris Barber Jazz Band in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Biography Anna Ottilie Patterson was ...

had non-charting single versions of "Jealous Heart" in respectively 1959 and 1963 before the version by Irish act the Cadets with Eileen Reid reached No. 42 on the UK Top 50 dated 3 June 1965. After debuting on the ''Cash Box'' Top 100 Singles chart dated 1 November 1958, Tab Hunter's "Jealous Heart" was ranked in tandem with the Fontane Sisters' version on the chart dated 8 November and with the Fontane Sisters and Les Paul & Mary Ford versions on the charts dated 15 November and 22 November: on 22 November the joint position assigned the three versions was No. 71. On its subsequent charts ''Cash Box'' only listed the Tab Hunter version which peaked at No. 60.

Connie Francis version

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937), known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Called the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” ...

recorded "Jealous Heart" 12 August 1965 in Hollywood CA in a session produced by Jesse Kaye with Ernie Freeman conducting. Although Francis had had early hits with remakes of traditional Pop songs by the mid-60s she was attempting (with sparse success) to update her sound - the precedent and subsequent releases to her "Jealous Heart" were recorded with

Petula Clark Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades. Clark's professional career began during the ...

's producer

Tony Hatch Anthony Peter Hatch (born 30 June 1939) is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer. Early life and early career Hatch was born in Pinner, Middlesex. Encouraged by his mus ...

- and "Jealous Heart" was an emphatic throwback to her original hit sound. The track also served as title cut for an album which was largely a nostalgia

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Some ...

heavily featuring standards: " Everything I Have Is Yours," "If You Ever Change Your Mind," " My Foolish Heart" and " Nevertheless" as well as the 1956 hit ballad "

Ivory Tower An ivory tower is a metaphorical place—or an atmosphere—where people are happily cut off from the rest of the world in favor of their own pursuits, usually mental and esoteric ones. From the 19th century, it has been used to designate an e ...

." Released that November, Francis' "Jealous Heart" peaked at No. 47 in January 1966: it was ranked substantially higher in both ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' and ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record W ...

'' at respectively No. 29 and No. 25. In all three trades Francis never had another single reach the Top 60. Her version of "Jealous Heart" was also her last

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...

Top 10 hit at No. 10. "Jealous Heart" was the last Connie Francis single to rank on the UK charts reaching No. 44 in January 1966. Also in early 1966 Francis' "Jealous Heart" reached No. 16 in Canada and No. 54 in Australia.

Spanish version

"Jealous Heart" has become a standard of

Latin music Latin music ( Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Spain and Portugal) and the Latino United States inspired by Latin Amer ...

via a

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the ...

rendering by Mexican lyricist Mario Molina Montes entitled "Celoso" ("jealous"). Recorded in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

in March 1966 by

Trio Los Panchos Originally, Trio Los Panchos are a '' trío romántico'' formed in New York City in 1944 by Alfredo Gil, Chucho Navarro, and Hernando Avilés. The trio became one of the leading exponents of the bolero and the romantic ballad in Latin America. I ...

led by

Johnny Albino Johnny Albino (December 9, 1919 – May 7, 2011) was a Puerto Rican bolero singer, born in Yauco, Puerto Rico but lived most of his life in Guayama, Puerto Rico. Biography Johnny Albino played and sang through his youth years. It was not un ...

, "Celoso" entered the Top Ten in Mexico in April 1967 and - ranked in tandem with a cover by

Marco Antonio Muñiz Marco Antonio Muñiz (born 3 March 1933) is a Mexican singer from Jalisco, Mexico. Known all over Latin America, he also acted in the 1965 film '' Sinful'' ( Spanish: El Pecador). He belongs to the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Early life and car ...

- the track reached No. 1 that summer spending five months in the Top Ten. In addition the Trio Los Panchos version reached No. 2 - in a tandem ranking with covers by

José Feliciano José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " F ...

and Oleo Guillot - in Argentina that autumn when the Muñiz version reached No. 1 in Puerto Rico. "Celoso" has also been recorded by Galy Galeano, Ezequiel Peña, José Luis Rodríguez and Sergio Vega. Later in 1981 it was recorded another version by Jhensen (Felix Caraballo Leonidas), in his album ''Cuando te Sientas Sola'' under

Peer Music Peermusic is a United States-based independent music publisher. History Ralph Peer, a field recording engineer and A&R representative for Victor Records, went on a scouting trip to Bristol, Tennessee. For two weeks, he recorded artists such as ...

. Johnny Rodriguez recorded a version of "Jealous Heart" in 1972 on the Mercury label.

Maná Maná () is a Mexican pop rock band. The band is considered one of the best-selling Latin music artists and the most successful Latin American band of all time with over 40 million records sold worldwide. The group's current lineup consists o ...

recorded "Celoso" for the soundtrack of the 1995 Gregory Nava movie ''My Family (Mi Familia)''.

Other versions

In 1988

Big Tom Tom McBride (18 September 1936 – 17 April 2018), known as Big Tom, was an Irish country, traditional and easy listening singer, as well as a guitarist, and saxophone player. With a career spanning over six decades, he started his career in ...

reached No. 9 on the Irish charts with "Jealous Heart" - actually a four track EP which included the title song. Other versions of the song include those by

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

(for his 1965 album '' Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits''),

Roy Acuff Roy Claxton Acuff (September 15, 1903 – November 23, 1992) was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the "King of Country Music", Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown ...

Eddy Arnold Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the ''Billboard'' cou ...

Teresa Brewer Teresa Brewer (born Theresa Veronica Breuer; May 7, 1931 – October 17, 2007) was an American singer whose style incorporated pop, country, jazz, R&B, musicals, and novelty songs. She was one of the most prolific and popular female singers of th ...

, Ann Breen, Carl Butler,

Eddy Duchin Edwin Frank Duchin (April 1, 1909 – February 9, 1951), commonly known as Eddy Duchin or alternatively Eddie Duchin, was an American jazz pianist and bandleader during the 1930s and 1940s. Early career Duchin was born on April 1, 1909 in Cambri ...

Margot Eskens Margot Eskens (12 August 1936 – 29 July 2022) was a German Schlager singer, most popular in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1956 and 1957 she had two #1 hits, "Tiritomba" (which sold over 800,000 copies) and "Cindy, oh Cindy", which was her biggest ...

(as "Blaue Nacht am Hafen"),

Tennessee Ernie Ford Ernest Jennings Ford (February 13, 1919 – October 17, 1991), known professionally as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American singer and television host who enjoyed success in the country and western, pop, and gospel musical genres. Noted for ...

Bill Haley William John Clifton Haley (; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-sel ...

Wanda Jackson Wanda LaVonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of rock, country and gospel. She was among the first women to have a career in rock and roll, ...

Sven Arefeldt Sven Allan Amandus Arefeldt, born ''Forsberg'' (29 December 1908 – 17 August 1956), was a Swedish musician, singer and composer. Arefeldt was born in Stockholm, and spent parts of his youth in Lindesberg, Västmanland. He learned to play the vio ...

(as "Hjärtats röst"),

Jussi Jussi () is a male given name. In Finnish originally it is short for Juhani or Juho, Finnish for Johannes/John, but is also recognized as a name in its own right for official purposes. It can also be short for Justus, or a Finnish form of Justin. ...

& Kantri Boys (as "Sydämein, Niin Mustasukkainen"),

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made ...

Hank Locklin Hank Locklin (born Lawrence Hankins Locklin; February 15, 1918 – March 8, 2009) was an American country music singer-songwriter. He had 70 chart singles, including two number one hits on ''Billboard''s country chart. His biggest hits included ...

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humber ...

(as "Blaue Nacht am Hafen"),

Bob Luman Robert Glynn Luman (April 15, 1937 – December 27, 1978) was an American country and rockabilly singer-songwriter. Early life and career Luman was born in Blackjack, Texas, United States, though was raised in Nacogdoches, Texas. His early i ...

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as " You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My M ...

Al Martino Al Martino (born Jasper Cini; October 7, 1927 – October 13, 2009) was an American singer and actor. He had his greatest success as a singer between the early 1950s and mid-1970s, being described as "one of the great Italian American pop croone ...

Jaye P. Morgan Jaye P. Morgan (born Mary Margaret Morgan) is a retired American popular music singer, actress, and game show panelist. Early life Morgan was born in Mancos in Montezuma County in far southwestern Colorado. Her family moved to California by t ...

Marie Osmond Olive Marie Osmond (born October 13, 1959) is an American singer, actress, television host, and a member of the show business family the Osmonds. Although she was never part of her family's singing group, she gained success as a country and pop ...

Bonnie Owens Bonnie Owens (October 1, 1929 – April 24, 2006), born Bonnie Campbell, was an American country music singer who was married to Buck Owens and later Merle Haggard. Biography She was born Bonnie Campbell in Blanchard, Oklahoma, United Stat ...

Patti Page Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), known professionally as Patti Page, was an American singer and actress. Primarily known for pop and country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and best-selling female ar ...

, Ray Price,

Johnnie Ray John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blu ...

, Johnny Rodriguez,

Jean Shepard Ollie Imogene "Jean" Shepard (November 21, 1933 – September 25, 2016) was an American honky-tonk singer-songwriter who pioneered for women in country music. Shepard released a total of 73 singles to the Hot Country Songs chart, one of which ...

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian-American country music artist. Most popular in the 1950s, he had a career that spanned more than 50 years, he recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on t ...

Kay Starr Katherine Laverne Starks (July 21, 1922 – November 3, 2016), known professionally as Kay Starr, was an American singer who enjoyed considerable success in the late 1940s and 1950s. She was of Iroquois and Irish heritage. Starr performed multip ...

Marsha Thornton Marsha Thornton (born October 22, 1964 in Killen, Alabama) is a female country music singer. Between 1990 and 2003, she released three studio albums, with her first two released on MCA Records; she has also issued four singles on the Hot Country ...

, Patrick Wall,

Kitty Wells Ellen Muriel Deason (August 30, 1919 – July 16, 2012), known professionally as Kitty Wells, was an American pioneering female country music singer. She broke down a barrier to women in country music with her 1952 hit recording "It Wasn't God W ...

Mark Wynter Mark Wynter (born Terence Sidney Lewis; 29 January 1943) is an English singer and actor, who had four Top 20 singles in the 1960s, including "Venus in Blue Jeans" and " Go Away Little Girl". He enjoyed a lengthy career from 1960 to 1968 as a p ...

and

Mary Duff Mary Duff is an Irish country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an ...

References

{{authority control 1944 songs 1944 singles 1949 singles 1958 singles Tex Ritter songs Connie Francis songs The Fontane Sisters songs Songs written by Jenny Lou Carson