Song 391: This week the playlist swings to The Tennessee Waltz by Pee Wee King, written by Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I learned this tune well before my first double-digit birthday, thanks to the OH relatives with their extensive country music collection. On our summer visits, they gave me complete access to their LPs and turntable, so I quickly got to know a bunch of country classics. I heard this original record first, and later got acquainted with the Patti Page hit version, liking both of them, though of the two, I still preferred King's recording, not knowing, or caring, that for much of the rest of the world, Patti had far outsold Pee Wee. In those years before The Beatles rocked my world and got me focussed on music with a back beat that you can't lose, this cut existed as part of a core group of about two dozen country tracks that animated my musical spirit. I knew the melodies and all of the words, I would often sing along with the records, and would also sometimes sing them to myself at times when I wasn't close to the LP stack. In addition, they might appear in my dreams, so well before the British Invasion awakened an interest in RnR and songwriting, I already had a country foundation to build on, which included a very catchy dance in 3/4 time that was truly stronger than drink and that offered a warning about what could happen if you let an old friend cut in with your partner.
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