Lovesick Blues - Show 9

Vaudeville pianist and Tin Pan Alley songwriter Cliff Friend wrote the melody to this tune in 1922 and the words were added by Irving Mills. The song was premiered in a musical about lonesome pilots, Oh, Ernest and first recorded by Elsie Clark. "I was a fighter pilot in the First World War at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. I was impressed by the lovesick boys who left their young wives and sweethearts for the service, blue," Friend later recalled. "I had been writing songs since I was 12. So I wrote 'Lovesick Blues.'"

In 1928 blackface minstrel Emmett Miller made the first recording of this song to feature a yodel. A decade later, country music singer Rex Griffin laid down another well-known version.

Inspired by Miller and Griffin's versions, Hank Williams performed the tune during his first appearances on the Louisiana Hayride in 1948. Receiving an enthusiastic reception from the audience, Williams decided to record his own interpretation. The young singer could only record songs published by Acuff-Rose, so Williams told Fred Rose that he had purchased the rights to "Lovesick Blues" from his drinking companion Rex Griffin. However they weren't his to sell and Acuff-Rose had to deal with a very cross co-writer Cliff Friend who did own the rights. "Fred Rose published it, but I had the copyright," Friend recalled. "When Williams' record hit the market, I flew to Nashville and took all the money, since I was also the publisher."