"Answer Me" is a popular song, originally titled "Mütterlein", with German lyrics by Gerhard Winkler and Fred Rauch. "Mütterlein" was published on 19 April 1952. English lyrics were written by Carl Sigman, and the song was published as "Answer Me" in

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on 13 October 1953. Contemporary recordings of the English lyric by

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American singer and songwriter whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performa ...

and David Whitfield both topped the UK Singles Chart in 1953.

"Mütterlein"

Mütterlein, an old-fashioned term of endearment for a mother in German, was the title used by Gerhard Winkler for a song marking his mother's 75th birthday in 1952. The first artist to record it was Leila Negra, and there were also versions in Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian. Fred Rauch later wrote new German lyrics, and titled it "Glaube Mir (Believe Me)". This version sold half a million copies for Wolfgang Sauer, a singer and pianist. It was recorded in Dutch by Bob Scholte : "Moeder mijn, moeder mijn". ( mother mine )

"Answer Me"

Sigman originally wrote his English lyrics as a religious-themed song, "Answer Me", in which the first line reads 'Answer me, Lord above', as a question posed to God about why the singer has lost his lover. This lyric was recorded by

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on 22 June 1953. Laine's version did not chart when released in his native America, where it was titled "Answer Me, Lord Above". British light operatic tenor David Whitfield recorded the song on 23 September the same year. Despite competition from other recordings of "Answer Me", only the two versions by Whitfield and Laine appeared on the UK Singles Chart. Both were released in the UK in October 1953. Whitfield's recording of "Answer Me" first entered the UK chart on 10 October, whilst Laine's (released in the UK simply as "Answer Me") appeared two weeks later. The song was banned by the

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after complaints, owing to the religious nature of the lyrics.''The Times Online''
6 August 2008 "The music the BBC banned" Bunny Lewis, Whitfield's manager and producer, asked songwriter Carl Sigman to amend his lyric. Rather than asking the question to God about why the singer had lost his love, the lyric was instead addressed directly to the lost lover. In the new lyric, "Answer me, Lord above..." was changed to "Answer me, oh my love...", with other appropriate changes. This revised version was recorded by Whitfield on 27 October. On 6 November, his version of "Answer Me" reached No. 1 in the UK in its fourth week on chart. On 13 November 1953, for the first time in UK Singles Chart history, one version of a song was knocked off the top spot by another version of the same song, when Frankie Laine's "Answer Me" made No. 1 in its third week on chart, deposing Whitfield's version after a week. Four weeks later, on 11 December, whilst Laine was still at No. 1, Whitfield returned to No. 1 with "Answer Me" for a second and final week, with both records sharing the No. 1 position; this was the only time in British chart history that two versions of the same song were jointly listed at No. 1. In total, Laine's "Answer Me" spent eight weeks at the top of the UK charts.

Other contemporary recordings

In October 1953, alongside the hit versions by David Whitfield and Frankie Laine, two versions of "Answer Me" by female singers were released in the UK, by Anne Shelton with The George Mitchell Choir and Jean Campbell. Other recordings available in the UK during the song's period of chart success were by

Monty Norman Monty Norman ( Noserovitch; 4 April 1928 – 11 July 2022) was a British film score composer and singer. A contributor to West End theatre, West End musicals in the 1950s and 1960s, he is best known for composing the "James Bond Theme", first ...

, Harry Farmer (organ), Reggie Goff, Victor Silvester and his Ballroom Orchestra, and Nat 'King' Cole. On the UK's sheet music charts, "Answer Me" first charted on 17 October 1953. On 7 November, its fourth week on chart, it reached No. 1, where it would spend ten weeks (including one week jointly with " I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"). Frankie Laine re-recorded "Answer Me" with the revised secular lyric in Hollywood on 29 December 1953. This version, titled "Answer Me, My Love", was not released until it appeared on the 1955 LP ''Lovers' Laine''. He would record the song again twice more at future sessions. On 9 December 1964, with orchestra arranged and conducted by Ralph Carmichael, Laine recorded "Answer Me, O Lord" in Hollywood. This version was issued on his album ''I Believe'', which consisted of religious material. In January 1982, "Answer Me, O Lord" was recorded by Laine with the Don Jackson Orchestra and released by

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the same year on an album of his re-recorded hits entitled ''The World Of Frankie Laine''. The original Nat King Cole recording, titled "Answer Me, My Love", was released by

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(catalog number 2687). This recording first reached the ''

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'' Best Seller chart on 24 February 1954, and lasted for 19 weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 6. It was the only version of the song to chart in America.

Recorded versions

Source: *

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(1969) – featured on the LP ''The World of The Bachelors Vol 3'' *

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(1965) – from the album '' The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener'' (1968) *

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

(1954) * Harry Connick, Jr. (2009) *

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Barbara Dickson Barbara Ruth Dickson (born 27 September 1947) is a Scottish singer and actress whose hits include " I Know Him So Well" (a chart-topping duet with Elaine Paige), " Answer Me" and " January February". Dickson has placed fifteen albums on the UK ...

(1976) – became her first UK top 10 hit, peaking at No. 9 *

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(1983) – featured on the LP ''In a Nostalgia Mood'' *

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The Happenings The Happenings are a pop music group that originated in the 1960s. Members of the original group, created in the spring of 1961 and initially called "The Four Graduates" because all had just graduated from high school in Paterson, New Jersey, we ...

* Bobby Hatfield * Engelbert Humperdinck *

(1953) * Gisele MacKenzie *

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(2000) – from the album '' Both Sides Now'' * Ray Peterson (1960) *

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* P. J. Proby (1965) * Johnny Rivers *

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(1968) *

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(1972) * David Whitfield (1953) – two versions, with different lyrics *

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(1960) * Tierney Sutton (2012) *

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 ...

(1964) *

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(2016) German versions * Leila Negra * Rudi Schuricke * Wolfgang Sauer (1954) as "Glaube mir"

Other performances

*The song was performed in concert by

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

in 1991 with Richard Thompson at the Guitar Legends concert in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

. *The song is in the

Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd (jazz musician), Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also be ...

live repertoire; he has performed it at least 15 times with his trio and solo from 2010 onwards.

References