"Letter Full of Tears" is a song written by American singer-songwriter

Don Covay Donald James Randolph (March 24, 1936 – January 31, 2015), better known by the stage name Don Covay, was an American R&B, rock and roll, and soul singer-songwriter most active from the 1950s to the 1970s. His most successful recordings incl ...

and released by

Gladys Knight & the Pips Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American R&B, soul and funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades starting from the early 1950s. Starting out as simpl ...

as a single in November 1961. It became their second top-20 hit, peaking at number 19 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was covered the following year by English singer

Billy Fury Ronald Wycherley (17 April 1940 – 28 January 1983), better known as Billy Fury, was an English singer, musician, songwriter, and actor. An early star of rock and roll, he equalled the Beatles' record of 24 hits in the 1960s and spent 332 week ...

who had a minor hit with it.

Background

After the top-ten success of " Every Beat of My Heart" earlier in 1961, subsequent releases of a re-recording of "Every Beat of My Heart" and a cover of the

Jesse Belvin Jesse Lorenzo Belvin (December 15, 1932 – February 6, 1960) was an American singer, pianist and songwriter popular in the 1950s. Belvin co-wrote the 1954 Penguins' doo-wop classic " Earth Angel", which sold more than 10 million copies, while h ...

song "Guess Who" had failed to continue the group's success. They then asked songwriter Don Covay, who had written Chubby Checker's number one hit "

Pony Time "Pony Time" is a song written by Don Covay and John Berry (a member of Covay's earlier vocal group, "the Rainbows"), and originally recorded in 1960 by Covay with his group "the Goodtimers". The song achieved greater success when it was recor ...

", to write a song for them. The resulting song, "Letter Full of Tears", was then arranged by

Horace Ott Horace Ott (born April 15, 1933) is an American jazz and R&B composer, arranger, record producer, conductor and pianist, noted for his work since the late 1950s with a wide variety of artists including The Shirelles, Don Covay, Nina Simone, Hou ...

Bubba Knight In American usage, "Bubba" is a term of endearment mainly given to boys. Being formed from the word "brother", it often indicates that someone is a "little brother". Etymology and history The linguist Ian Hancock has described similarities betw ...

has said it "was the first time we had ever used a string section". However, producer Bobby Robinson "didn't really want to record strings, and

Marshall Sehorn Marshall Estus Sehorn (June 25, 1934 – December 5, 2006) was an American A&R man, songwriter, music publisher and entrepreneur who played an important role in the development of R&B and popular music in New Orleans between the 1950s and 1970 ...

begged him to put strings on this song for us. Because during this time, when you used strings, it kind of made yourself a bit more sophisticated than the regular R&B thing".

Track listing

7": Fury / 1054 # "Letter Full of Tears" – 2:45 # "You Broke Your Promise" – 2:45

Charts

Billy Fury version

Release

"Letter Full of Tears" was a departure for Fury from his previous

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

and

pop ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cur ...

releases. It was his first R&B single, though he had been singing R&B songs on stage for a while. It was recorded in November 1961, soon after the release of Gladys Knight & the Pips' version, and released in February 1962. It was released with the B-side "Magic Eyes", written by Americans Dorian Burton and Herb Bernstein. "Letter Full of Tears" was not particularly successful, especially given that Fury's previous three singles had all been top-five. However, Fury later said that "I had an awful lot of trouble with this song. I didn't want to do it because it wasn't my style and I find the vocal really difficult to do and I was really pressurised into doing it. And I didn't like the arrangement". Whilst on the official ''

Record Retailer ''Record Retailer'' was the only music trade newspaper for the UK record industry. It was founded in August 1959 as a monthly newspaper covering both labels and dealers. Its founding editor was Roy Parker (who died on 27 December 1964). The title ...

'' chart, the single only peaked at number 32, it did fare better on other music paper charts, such as '' Disc'' and ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

,'' both on which the single peaked at number 17.

Track listing

7": Decca / F 11437 # "I'm Lost Without You" – 2:28 # "Magic Eyes" – 2:12

Charts

Other versions

* In 1974,

Millie Jackson Mildred Virginia Jackson (born July 15, 1944) is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and Soul music, soul recording artist. Beginning her career in the early 1960s, three of Jackson's albums have been certified Music recording certification, gold ...

covered the song on her album ''I Got to Try It One Time''. * In 1981,

Little Milton James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his number-one R&B single " We're Gonna Make It". His other hits include "Baby, I Love ...

covered the song on his album ''Walkin' the Back Streets''. * In 1982,

Randy Crawford Veronica "Randy" Crawford (born February 18, 1952) is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as a solo artist. However, she has ap ...

covered the song on her album ''Windsong''. * In 1993, Arlene Smith (former lead singer of

the Chantels ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

) and

Johnny Colla John Victor Colla (born July 2, 1952) is an American musician (playing the guitar and saxophone), singer and songwriter. He is a founding member of the American rock band Huey Lewis and the News. He has been heavily involved in the San Franci ...

(guitarist for

Huey Lewis and the News Huey Lewis and the News are an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually achieving 19 top ten singles across the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, Adult Contempora ...

) covered the song on the tribute album ''Celebrating the Music of Don Covay – Back to the Streets''. * In 2012, an previously unreleased recording by

Esquerita Eskew Reeder, Jr. (November 20, 1935 or 1938 – October 23, 1986), usually known by the stage name Esquerita, and occasionally as S.Q. Reeder or The Magnificent Malochi, was an American R&B singer, songwriter and pianist, known for his frenet ...

from 1966 was included on the album ''Sinner Man – The Lost Session''.

References

{{authority control 1961 singles 1962 songs Songs written by Don Covay Fury Records singles Decca Records singles Gladys Knight & the Pips songs Billy Fury songs Millie Jackson songs Randy Crawford songs Song recordings produced by Mike Smith (British record producer)