Oh Lonesome Me

For the Don Gibson album, see Oh Lonesome Me (album).

"Oh Lonesome Me"
Single by Don Gibson
B-side	"I Can't Stop Loving You"
Released	1958
Format	7" single
Genre	Country
Length	2:26
Label	RCA Victor
Writer(s)	Don Gibson
Producer	Chet Atkins
Don Gibson singles chronology
"Sweet Dreams" (1956) "Oh Lonesome Me" (1958) "Blue Blue Day" (1958)

"Oh Lonesome Me" is a popular song written and recorded by Don Gibson with Chet Atkins producing for RCA Victor in Nashville in 1958. The song topped the country chart for eight non consecutive weeks, in addition to reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[1] Its B-side was "I Can't Stop Loving You" which peaked at number seven on the C&W Jockey charts and became a standard song about unrequited love.^[2]

Cover versions

Since Gibson's original release of "Oh, Lonesome Me", the song has become undoubtedly one of the most covered songs in both the country and pop genres.

Craig Douglas released a cover version in Great Britain in 1962 on the (Decca label, under the production of Bunny Lewis.^[3] Douglas' version entered the British singles charts on October 20, 1962, stayed there for twelve weeks and the best position was as # 11.^[4]

Neil Young covered the song on his 1970 album "After the Gold Rush," turning Gibson's lighthearted lament into a retro dirge (Stephen Stills is that back up voice at the end of the third verse).

Other charted covers on the country music charts include Johnny Cash (#13 in 1961),^[5] Stonewall Jackson (#63 in 1970),^[6] Loggins & Messina (#92 in 1975)^[7] and The Kentucky Headhunters (#8 in 1990).^[8] Loggins & Messina's version was the duo's only entry on the country music charts, and the Kentucky Headhunters' slower-tempoed but more cutting-edge version was that band's highest-peaking single.

Several other artists have covered the song for their albums as a "filler" or "album cut". A group of child singers who record under the name The Countdown Kids covered the song for a children's country music CD, which sounds very similar to Gibson's original recording.

Former Brady Bunch child star Maureen McCormick, as country singer Barbara Mandrell, performed the song in the Mandrell TV biopic Get To The Heart: The Barbara Mandrell Story.

References

1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 157. ISBN 0-89820-177-2. 
2. ^ Gillett, Charlie (1996). The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll ((2nd Ed.) ed.). New York, N.Y.: Da Capo Press. pp. 108–109. ISBN 0-306-80683-5. 
3. ^ Chart Stats - Images - Singles - 3279.jpg
4. ^ Chart Stats - Craig Douglas - Og Lonesome Me
5. ^ Whitburn, p. 84
6. ^ Whitburn, p. 203
7. ^ Whitburn, p. 243
8. ^ Whitburn, p. 223

Preceded by "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" by Johnny Cash	C&W Best Sellers in Stores number one single April 14, 1958 - May 26, 1958 June 16, 1958	Succeeded by "All I Have to Do Is Dream" by The Everly Brothers "Guess Things Happen That Way" by Johnny Cash
Preceded by "Gone" by Ferlin Husky	Billboard C&W Best Sellers in Stores number-one single of the year 1958	Succeeded by "The Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton