Singing the Blues - Re-Recorded Version

There have been several songs called "Singing The Blues," but the one composed by Malcolm Endsley holds a unique record: It was the first and in half a century and more of its existence the only song in the history of the UK singles chart to knock itself off the top spot twice!

Tommy Steele was at that time being hyped as the British Elvis; although his recording career was not quite as illustrious, he would later move into films with great success. Guy Mitchell's version topped the UK singles chart at the start of January 1957, and was replaced the following week by the Steele version. The following week the Mitchell version replaced the Steele version again. Frankie Vaughan's "The Garden Of Eden" replaced it, and then the Guy Mitchell version topped the chart for another week.

The British Library, the national library of Britain, holds a copy of the sheet music. Copyrighted 1954 and priced 2 shillings it was recorded by Guy Mitchell on Philips and by Tommy Steele on Decca. It was published by Frank Music Company of London and by Acuff-Rose Publishing of Nashville. The song was also published in 1956 as part of the Frank Dance Series for which it was arranged by Jimmy Lally. This latter is quite a substantial publication and was priced as follows:
Full Orchestra 3s6d
Small Orchestra 3s
Piano Conductor 1s
Extra Parts 8d

This was written by 20-year-old American Country singer Melvin Endsley in 1954. Endsley was a childhood victim of polio who spent his life in a wheelchair. It was first aired on KWCB radio the following year and it was so well-received that Endsley took it to Nashville to try to sell it. There, he met Marty Robbins, who recorded the song on Columbia in August 1956 and it climbed the charts eventually peaking at #17 and topping the country list for 13 weeks.
Guy Mitchell was also on Columbia and he was given the song to cover in a more poppy style. His version reached #1 in the US charts in December 1956 and stayed there for nine weeks, outselling and outplaying the Marty Robbins version.