That Lucky Old Sun
Encyclopedia
"That Lucky Old Sun" is a 1949
popular
song
with music by Beasley Smith
and words by Haven Gillespie
. Like "Ol' Man River
", its lyrics contrast the toil and intense hardship of the singer's life with the obliviousness of the natural world.
. This recording was released by Mercury Records
as catalog number
5316. It first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on August 19, 1949 and lasted 22 weeks on the chart, peaking at #1.
The recording by Vaughn Monroe
& His Orchestra was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-3531 (78 rpm) and 47-3018 (45 rpm) (in USA) and by EMI
on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 9836. It first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on September 16, 1949 and lasted 14 weeks on the chart, peaking at #9.
The recording by Louis Armstrong
was released by Decca Records
as catalog number 24752. It first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on October 14, 1949 and lasted 3 weeks on the chart, peaking at #24.
Frank Sinatra
released his competing version of the song on the Columbia label catalog number 38608. It reached the best sellers chart on October 29, 1949 and peaked at #16.
recorded an unreleased solo version at Sun Studios in 1956 or 1957.
A version by Sam Cooke
appeared on his debut LP Sam Cooke (1957 album)
The Velvets
released their doo wop version on Monument records around 1960/61.
A version by Ray Charles
appeared on his 1963
album Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul
. (This recording is also included as a bonus track on post-1988
CD reissues of Charles' landmark 1962
album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
.)
Aretha Franklin
recorded the song for her album "The Electrifying Aretha Franklin
" (1962).
Paul Williams
recorded a version on the 1972 album Life Goes On
Willie Nelson
recorded a version on the 1976 album The Sound in Your Mind
which was also released as an extra track on the reissued Stardust: 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition.
The Jerry Garcia Band
performed a version on the Jerry Garcia Band live album in 1991.
Johnny Cash
covered it on the album American III: Solitary Man
in 2000.
Brian Wilson
premiered a song cycle inspired by the song entitled That Lucky Old Sun (A Narrative) at the Royal Festival Hall, London, England on 10 September 2007.
A duet with Kenny Chesney
and Willie Nelson
is included on Chesney's 2008 album Lucky Old Sun
. This version reached #56 on the Hot Country Songs
chart, based on unsolicited airplay.
Dick Haymes Album: Once in a Lifetime
In Czech language by Hana Hegerova
.
1949 in music
-Events:*February 4 – Ljuba Welitsch makes her Metropolitan Opera début in Salome.*September 5 - Wagnerian tenor Walter Widdop appears at The Proms, singing "Lohengrin's Farewell", the day before his sudden death at the age of 51....
popular
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
with music by Beasley Smith
Beasley Smith
John Beasley Smith was an American composer. That Lucky Old Sun, one of his better known works, was covered by many well-known artists. He often worked with Haven Gillespie....
and words by Haven Gillespie
Haven Gillespie
James Lamont "Haven" Gillespie was an American Tin Pan Alley composer and lyricist. He was the writer of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" as well as "You Go to My Head", "Honey", "By the Sycamore Tree", "That Lucky Old Sun", "Breezin' Along With The Breeze", "Right or Wrong," "Beautiful Love",...
. Like "Ol' Man River
Ol' Man River
"Ol' Man River" is a song in the 1927 musical Show Boat that expresses the African American hardship and struggles of the time with the endless, uncaring flow of the Mississippi River; it is sung from the point-of-view of a dock worker on a showboat, and is the most famous song from the show...
", its lyrics contrast the toil and intense hardship of the singer's life with the obliviousness of the natural world.
1949 recordings
The biggest hit version of the song was by Frankie LaineFrankie Laine
Frankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio , was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005...
. This recording was released by Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
as catalog number
Catalog numbering systems for single records
This article presents the numbering systems used by various record companies for single records.- Capitol :...
5316. It first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on August 19, 1949 and lasted 22 weeks on the chart, peaking at #1.
The recording by Vaughn Monroe
Vaughn Monroe
Vaughn Wilton Monroe was an American baritone singer, trumpeter and big band leader and actor, most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recording and radio.-Biography:...
& His Orchestra was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-3531 (78 rpm) and 47-3018 (45 rpm) (in USA) and by EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 9836. It first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on September 16, 1949 and lasted 14 weeks on the chart, peaking at #9.
The recording by Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
was released by Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
as catalog number 24752. It first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on October 14, 1949 and lasted 3 weeks on the chart, peaking at #24.
Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
released his competing version of the song on the Columbia label catalog number 38608. It reached the best sellers chart on October 29, 1949 and peaked at #16.
Other covers
Jerry Lee LewisJerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
recorded an unreleased solo version at Sun Studios in 1956 or 1957.
A version by Sam Cooke
Sam Cooke
Samuel Cook, , better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and...
appeared on his debut LP Sam Cooke (1957 album)
Sam Cooke (1957 album)
-Track listing:# "You Send Me"# "The Lonesome Road"# "Tammy"# "Ol' Man River"# "Moonlight in Vermont"# "Canadian Sunset"# "Summertime"# "Around the World"# "Ain't Misbehavin'"# "The Bells of St. Mary"# "So Long"# "Danny Boy"# "That Lucky Old Sun"...
The Velvets
The Velvets
The Velvets were an American doo wop group from Odessa in Ector County in west Texas. The African American quintet was formed in 1959 by Virgil Johnson, a high school English teacher, with four of his students. Roy Orbison heard the group and signed them to Monument Records in 1960. Their first...
released their doo wop version on Monument records around 1960/61.
A version by Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
appeared on his 1963
1963 in music
-Events:*January 1 – The Beatles start a 5-day tour in Scotland to support the release of their new single, "Love Me Do".*January 4 – At Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy, Dalida receives a Juke Box Global Oscar for the year's most-played artist on juke boxes....
album Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul
Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul
Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul is a 1963 album by Ray Charles.In 1990, the album was released on compact disc by DCC with four bonus tracks...
. (This recording is also included as a bonus track on post-1988
1988 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1988.-January-March:* January 1 – André Rieu's Johann Strauss Orchestra plays its first concert....
CD reissues of Charles' landmark 1962
1962 in music
-Events:*January 1 – The Beatles and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes both audition at Decca Records, a company which has the option of signing one group only...
album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a studio album by American R&B and soul musician Ray Charles, released in April 1962 on ABC-Paramount Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in early to mid-February 1962 at Capitol Studios in New York City and at United Recording Studios...
.)
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
recorded the song for her album "The Electrifying Aretha Franklin
The Electrifying Aretha Franklin
The Electrifying Aretha Franklin is the second studio album by Aretha Franklin for Columbia Records in 1962. The album which also known under its working title The Incomparable Aretha Franklin, was recorded at Columbia Recording Studios 799, Seventh Avenue, New York...
" (1962).
Paul Williams
Paul Williams (songwriter)
Paul Hamilton Williams, Jr. is an Academy Award-winning American composer, musician, songwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for popular songs performed by a number of acts in the 1970s including Three Dog Night's "An Old Fashioned Love Song", Helen Reddy's "You and Me Against the World",...
recorded a version on the 1972 album Life Goes On
Life Goes On (Paul Williams album)
Life Goes On is an album by Paul Williams, released in 1972. Notable songs from the album include "I Won't Last a Day Without You" and "Out in the Country".- Track listing :# "The Lady Is Waiting"# "Out in the Country"# "Little Girl"# "Rose"...
Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
recorded a version on the 1976 album The Sound in Your Mind
The Sound in Your Mind
The Sound in Your Mind is the second Columbia Records album by country musician Willie Nelson.-Side one:#"That Lucky Old Sun " 2:20...
which was also released as an extra track on the reissued Stardust: 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition.
The Jerry Garcia Band
Jerry Garcia Band
The Jerry Garcia Band was a San Francisco Bay Area rock band led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia founded the band in 1975; it remained the most important of his various side-projects until his death in 1995...
performed a version on the Jerry Garcia Band live album in 1991.
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
covered it on the album American III: Solitary Man
American III: Solitary Man
American III: Solitary Man is the third album in the American series by Johnny Cash released in 2000. The album was notable for being Cash's highest charting solo studio LP since his 1976 One Piece at a Time , an album that reached No. 2 Country based on the title cut...
in 2000.
Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
premiered a song cycle inspired by the song entitled That Lucky Old Sun (A Narrative) at the Royal Festival Hall, London, England on 10 September 2007.
A duet with Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...
and Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
is included on Chesney's 2008 album Lucky Old Sun
Lucky Old Sun
Lucky Old Sun is the thirteenth studio album released by country music artist Kenny Chesney. It was released on October 14, 2008 as the first release for Blue Chair Records, Chesney's personal division of the BNA Records label...
. This version reached #56 on the Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart, based on unsolicited airplay.
Dick Haymes Album: Once in a Lifetime
In Czech language by Hana Hegerova
Hana Hegerová
Hana Hegerová , is a leading Czechoslovakian singer, actress and uncrowned queen of Czechoslovakian chanson. Foreign critics call her "The Great Lady of Chanson", "The Piaf from Prague", and "The Chanteuse with a Slavic Soul"...
.