"Lonesome Town" is a

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

written by

Baker Knight Thomas Baker Knight Jr. (July 4, 1933 – October 12, 2005) was an American songwriter and musician. His best known compositions were "Lonesome Town", "The Wonder of You", and " Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time". His songs have ...

. A version sung by

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...

became a

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

in the United States, reaching #7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #15 on the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

in 1958. The song was featured on his 1959 album, ''

Ricky Sings Again ''Ricky Sings Again'' is the third rock and roll album by Ricky Nelson, released in 1959. The Jordanaires provide vocal accompaniment. Track listing #"It's Late" (Dorsey Burnette) - 1:59 #"One of These Mornings" (Dorsey Burnette) - 1:54 #"B ...

''. Nelson is accompanied on the recording by the vocal quartet

The Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vocal ...

Other versions

Johnny Tillotson Johnny Tillotson (born April 20, 1938) is an American singer-songwriter. He enjoyed his greatest success in the early 1960s, when he scored nine top-ten hits on the pop, country, and adult contemporary ''Billboard'' charts, including " Poetry ...

recorded and released his version of this song in 1962. *

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

recorded it for his 1999 album '' Run Devil Run''. He also performed the song live alongside David Gilmour for a 1999

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

fundraiser concert. *

The Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the ...

recorded at least two versions of this song, the first released in 1961 on their album ''The Ventures'' (subsequently mistitled on later CDs as ''Lonesome Road'') and the second, new recording on their 1975 cassette-only album ''Hollywood Metal Dinamic Sound 3000''. *The song was covered by the psychobilly band

The Cramps The Cramps were an American rock band formed in 1976 and active until 2006. Their lineup rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy the only ever-present members. T ...

on the EP ''Gravest Hits'' and also featured on compilations ''Off the Bone'' and ''How to Make a Monster''. *Australian singer Jason Donovan recorded it, too, for his album '' Let It Be Me'' (2008). *

Milton Mapes Milton Mapes is a band that formed in Austin, Texas in 1999. The band was named after band member Greg Vanderpool's grandfather. Singer/guitarist Greg Vanderpool and bandmate Roberto Sánchez, both veterans of Dallas’ Deep Ellum music scene, s ...

recorded a cover version for the covers compilation soundtrack released in support of video game '' Stubbs the Zombie'' in 2005. *The song was covered and released as single by English garage legend Holly Golightly. The song also appears on ''Singles Round-Up''. *The song was covered by Portuguese rocker Legendary Tiger Man with

Rita Redshoes Rita Pereira (born 10 July 1981), known by her stage name Rita Redshoes, is a solo musical artist from Portugal. In 1996 she sang with her first band, Atomic Bees, releasing an album in 2000 entitled ''love.noises.and.kisses''. In 2003, she was ...

on vocals on his 2009 album ''Femina''. *The song was covered by

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...

and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

on their ''Live on Air / Radio Broadcast 1986 Live album''. *

Françoise Hardy Françoise Madeleine Hardy (; born 17 January 1944) is a French former singer and songwriter. Mainly known for singing melancholic sentimental ballads, Hardy has been an important figure in French pop music since her debut, spanning a career of ...

recorded a version in French, ''La Rue des cœurs perdus'' in 1968.

In media

* The song appears on the soundtrack to the film ''

Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhame ...

''. The song is played as characters Mia and Vincent begin their conversation in the restaurant. * The song was used on the NBC television series ''Heroes'' in chapter 14 of the fourth season, in the episode "Close to You", which aired January 11, 2010. Sometime-evil

carny Carny, also spelled carnie, is an informal term used in North America for a traveling carnival employee, and the language they use, particularly when the employee operates a game ("joint"), food stand ("grab", "popper" or "floss wagon"), or ride ...

leader and lonesome heart Sam Sullivan (actor

Robert Knepper Robert Lyle Knepper (born July 8, 1959) is an American actor best known for his role as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in the Fox drama series '' Prison Break'' (2005–2009, 2017), Samuel Sullivan in the final season of the NBC series ''Heroes'' (2 ...

) chooses the song on a diner jukebox and orders a milkshake, reminiscent of the scene in ''

''. A closeup of the milkshake is shown as Sam invokes an "earthquake", which then drowns out the music. The song runs from 38:35 to 39:52 in the episode. * The song was used in Episode 4 of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

The End of the F***ing World ''The End of the F***ing World'' is a British black comedy-drama television programme. The eight-part first series premiered its first episode on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 24 October 2017, after which the following episodes were release ...

''. * The song was used in the trailer for the

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

series '' Castle Rock''. *

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...

, guitarist for the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

, recorded two versions during the 1974 sessions for his solo album '' Compliments''. Neither version were included on the original release but both, one being acoustic, were included in the 2004 box set '' All Good Things: Jerry Garcia Studio Sessions''. *The song is used in the beginning of Grantchester season 7 episode 3 on PBS.

References

1958 songs 1958 singles Songs written by Baker Knight Imperial Records singles Rock ballads Rockabilly songs Songs about loneliness Jason Donovan songs Paul McCartney songs Ricky Nelson songs The Ventures songs Hep Stars songs {{1950s-single-stub