Release Me (Eddie Miller song)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Release Me is a pop ballad written by Eddie Miller and Robert Yount in 1949 . Shortly thereafter, the song was covered by Jimmy Heap & the Melody Masters (1953) and then with greater success by Patti Page (1954), Ray Price (1954) and Kitty Wells (1954). In 1960 Jivin 'Gene & the Jokers covered the song and their version of the song served as the template for Little Esther Phillips' recording of Release Me , which went # 1 on the US R&B charts and peaked at # 8 on the pop charts. The 1967 version by Engelbert Humperdinck , which reached number 1 on the English charts, made the song world famous and had numerous other cover versions by well-known performers, such as B. Dean Martin (1967) or Elvis Presley (1970) follow.

Success as a country title

As a country song , Release Me was a hit with Jimmy Heap, Kitty Wells and Ray Price, all in 1954. Although Price had hit a few hits before that, his version of Release Me is often seen as his breakthrough. The song had elements of the 4/4 shuffle , one of the later "trademarks" of Price, as it was e.g. B. can be heard well on his later hit "Crazy Arms". Price made it to number 6 on the US country charts with Release Me .

Version by Engelbert Humperdinck

Release Me
Single by Engelbert Humperdinck
publication April 1967
length 3:18
Genre (s) Pop , country
Author (s) Eddie Miller, Robert Yount
Label Decca Records

In 1965 Engelbert Humperdinck, who was performing as Gerry Dorsey at the time, met again with an old friend, Gordon Mills . Mills was a successful manager of Tom Jones at the time . From then on he also began working as a manager for Dorsey and changed his name to Engelbert Humperdinck. Under the management of Mills, Humperdinck published a few unsuccessful songs, one of which ( Dommage, Dommage ), however, achieved moderate success in Europe. In the spring of 1967 the English TV station ITV approached him and asked him to represent the sick Dickie Valentine on the TV show 'Sunday Night At The London Palladium'. The show was one of the most important and most watched TV programs in England at the time. On this show he sang his version of Release Me . The song became an overnight success and reached number 1 on the British charts in March 1967, where it prevented Penny Lane of the Beatles from reaching that position. Penny Lane became the only Beatles song that failed. Humperdinck's version stayed on the charts for a record 56 weeks. Overall, the title sold over a million times in 1967 and became a worldwide success for Humperdinck.

The b-side of the single, titled Ten Guitars , was a surprising hit in New Zealand among young Maori and shortly thereafter across New Zealand.

Chart successes

Charts (1967) highest ranking
Australia 3
Belgium 1
Canada 2
Germany 20th
Ireland 1
Netherlands 2
New Zealand 45
England 1
US Billboard Hot 100 4th

Others

In 2015, Audi used Humperdinck's song in an advertisement for the new Audi RS3 .

Other versions

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Joel Whitburn: Top R&B / Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research . 2004, ISBN 978-0-89820-160-4 , pp. 460 .
  2. ↑ a b Jo Rice: The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits . 1st edition. Guinness Superlatives, Enfield (Middlesex) 1982, ISBN 0-85112-250-7 , pp. 108 .
  3. ↑ a b UK's million-selling singles: the full list. November 4, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Engelbert Humperdinck, Desert Island Discs. BBC Radio 4, accessed November 28, 2017 .
  5. ↑ NZ Folk Song. Ten Guitars, accessed November 28, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Born Restless. The Audi RS 3 Sportback. Audi UK, June 15, 2015, accessed November 28, 2017 .