Shame on You (Cooley song)

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"Shame on You"
Single by Spade Cooley and His Western Band
B-side "A Pair of Broken Hearts"
ReleasedJanuary 15, 1945 (1945-01-15)
Genre Western swing
Label OKeh
Songwriter(s) Spade Cooley

"Shame on You" is a Western Swing song written by Spade Cooley and became his signature song.

Contents

Background

The title comes from the refrain that starts each verse:

Shame, shame on you.
Shame, shame on you.

In the song, the singer is rebuking his straying girlfriend. The recording was Cooley's first after taking over the band from Jimmy Wakely, and the first of an unbroken chain of six hits which led to him being on the cover of Billboard in March 1946. [1] "Shame On You" was the first song whose rights were owned by the Hill & Range publishing company, which later grew to become a dominant force in country music. [2]

Chart performance

First recorded by Spade Cooley, it was released January 15, 1945 (OKeh 6731). With vocals by Tex Williams, it reached number one, spending 31 weeks on the charts. [3] The "B" side, "A Pair of Broken Hearts"—also a hit—reached number eight.

Cover Versions

References

  1. ↑ Lange, Smile When You Call Me a Hillbilly, p. 109: "In March 1946, Cooley made the cover of Billboard; an accompanying story reported his drawing over twelve thousand patrons a weekend at the Rancho [Riverside Rancho ballroom]."
  2. ↑ Autobiography of Julian Aberbach Archived 2011-09-23 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits.
  4. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 375.
  5. ↑ Billboard Aug 4, 1945. page 19.

Bibliography


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