Teardrops from My Eyes

"Teardrops from My Eyes", written by Rudy Toombs, was the first upbeat major hit for Ruth Brown, establishing her as an important figure in rhythm and blues. Recorded for Atlantic Records in New York City in September 1950, and released in October, it was on BillBoard's List of number-one R&B hits for 11 weeks. It was Atlantic's first release on the new 45-rpm record format. The huge hit earned her the nickname "Miss Rhythm" and within a few months Ruth Brown became the acknowledged queen of R&B. "Teardrops from My Eyes" was her first of five number one R&B hits. [cite book
first=& Steve Propes
last= Jim Dawson
authorlink=
coauthors=
year= 1992
title= What Was the First Rock'n'Roll Record
edition=
publisher= Faber & Faber
location= Boston & London
pages= p. 76-79
id=ISBN 978-0-571-12939-3 ]

tory behind the hit

Before this hit single, Ruth Brown was thought of strictly as a torch singer. When Ruby Toombs showed her the song she was initially reluctant to do it as it was so rhymatically different from the popular standards and ballads she was comfortable singing. The change of tempo, the backbeat of four/four, at first led her to dig in her heels. But Ahmet Ertegün, sensing the time was right, urged her to give the song a try and so she went along with his choice of tunes for her.cite book
first= Arnold
last= Shaw
year= 1978
title= Honkers and Shouters
edition=
publisher=Macmillan Publishing Company
location= New York
pages= p. 398-409
id= ISBN 978-0-02-061740-2] The song featured a tenor solo by Budd Johnson.cite book
first=Charlie
last=Gillett
year= 1996
title= The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll
edition= (2nd Ed.)
publisher= Da Capo Press
location=New York, N.Y.
pages= p. 130
id= ISBN 978-0-306-80683-4]

Atlantic used a process that it would repeat over the years, that is, turning an uptown singer funky. As with Ruth Brown, Ahmet Ertegün's method was to introduce popular black musical artists to older and more powerful black musical modes.

Important cover versions

*Louis Jordan
*Rex Allen
*June Hutton
*Louis Prima
*Wynonie Harris
*BB King

Notes