"Be Honest with Me" | ||||
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Single by Gene Autry | ||||
B-side | "What's Gonna Happen to Me" [1] | |||
Published | October 11, 1940 by Western Music Publishing Co., Hollywood, Calif. [2] | |||
Released | January 17, 1941 [3] | |||
Recorded | August 20, 1940 [4] | |||
Studio | CBS Columbia Square, Hollywood, California [4] [5] | |||
Genre | Hillbilly, Western | |||
Length | 2:45 | |||
Label | Okeh 05980 [4] [1] | |||
Songwriter(s) | Gene Autry, Fred Rose [2] | |||
Producer(s) | Art Satherly [5] | |||
Gene Autry singles chronology | ||||
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"Be Honest With Me" was a 1940 song by Gene Autry and Fred Rose. [2] The recording by Autry was one of the big Hillbilly (Country and Western) hits of 1941, and was nominated for the 1942 Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Autry recorded it on August 20, 1940 at CBS Columbia Square Studios, Hollywood, California. [4] At the time, the working title was "Be Honest With Me Dear", and Autry was the sole songwriter. Later in the year, it was decided the song would be included in the singing cowboy's latest film, 'Ridin' on a Rainbow', directed by Lew Landers. One week before the film was released on January 24, 1941, "Be Honest with Me" was released on Columbia Records budget Hillbilly label, Okeh 5980, coupled with "What's Gonna Happen to Me". [1] An error on the disc label lists "Autry" as the sole songwriter. However, sources including publishing info [2] and geneautry.com [3] confirm it was an Autry-Rose collaboration. Error on disc label carried down several years. It reached the top of The Billboard's monthly Hilllbilly chart during the fall of 1941, [6] and finished as the No. 3 song of 1941 to "You Are My Sunshine" and Ernest Tubb's "Walking the Floor Over You". The film received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Be Honest with Me" [7]
Despite his enormous success, Autry dutifully enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942. He and Rose wrote their last numbers together when he returned in 1944, including their biggest hit, "At Mail Call Today". 1940-41 was their most prolific time together, and "Be Honest With Me" their biggest hit during that time. It is notable that the song was covered by the major Hillbilly acts of the day (see Cover versions) in 1941, plus Bing Crosby, the number one popular singer.
Charts (1941) | Rank |
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US Billboard National Best Selling Retail Records | 17 |
"The Billboard Hillbilly Record Hits of the Month" column [6] | 1 |
US Billboard National Best Selling Retail Records Year-End | 147 |
"The Billboard Hillbilly Record Hits" Year-End | 3 |
"You Are My Sunshine" is a standard of American old-time country music and one of the official state songs of Louisiana. Its original writer is disputed. According to the performance rights organisation BMI, by the year 2000 the song had been recorded by over 350 artists and translated into 30 languages.
"Blues in the Night" is a popular blues song which has become a pop standard and is generally considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for a 1941 film begun with the working title Hot Nocturne, but finally released as Blues in the Night. The song is sung in the film by William Gillespie.
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"My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" is a 1945 popular song.
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This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1949.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1945.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1944.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1943.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1941.
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"Tumbling Tumbleweeds" is a Western music song composed by Bob Nolan, a founding member of the Sons of the Pioneers. Nolan wrote the song in the early 1930s while he was working as a caddy and living in Los Angeles. It was first recorded by the Sons of the Pioneers in 1934, and it became one of the most famous songs associated with the group. Originally titled "Tumbling Leaves", the song was reworked into the title "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and into more widespread fame with the 1935 film of the same name starring Gene Autry. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
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For music from an individual year in the 1940s, go to 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49
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