(William McCall/Eddie Miller/James Pebworth/W.S. Stevenson/Robert Yount)
This song written by William McCall, Eddie Miller, James Pebworth, W.S. Stevenson and Robert Yount was covered by many singers, including Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Ray Price, and Willie Nelson, but it was Engelbert Humperdinck who put it into the stratosphere (and it, him) in 1967, when it reached #1 in nine countries, including the U.S. and the U.K., where it would stay at #1 for six weeks, end The Beatles’ run of seventeen #1s in a row (nobody beats Engelbert Humperdinck eighteen times in a row) and spend a record-breaking fifty-six weeks on the U.K. charts. (It only reached #7 on the U.S. charts and spent a paltry thirty-one weeks on the Billboard Top 40.) According to co-writer Eddie Miller, it was inspired by an overheard conversation in a bar between a husband and wife. We presume it was their last.
Kayton Roberts & Little Roy Wiggins recordings
Stoneway No. 1084 (LH-10058)
Sources:
- http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1660
- http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gary.hart/lyricsh/humperdinck.html
- http://www.tremolocowboys.com/Lyrics_R/Ray_Price_Lyrics/Release_Me_Song_Lyrics.html
- http://freakytrigger.co.uk/popular/2006/02/engelbert-humperdinck-release-me/
- The Billboard Book of Top 40 Albums by Joel Whitburn (Billboard Publications, Inc.)
- The Complete Book of the British Charts by Tony Brown, Jon Kutner and Neil Warwick (Omnibus Press)