Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1950 | |
Teardrops from My EyesBuy Teardrops from My Eyes now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it. | |
Wikipedia article"'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 'Billboard's number-one R&B hit for 11 non-consecutive weeks. It was Atlantic's first release on the new 45-rpm record format. The huge hit earned Brown the nickname "Miss Rhythm" and within a few months she became the acknowledged queen of R&B. "Teardrops from My Eyes" was her first of five number-one R&B hits. BackgroundBefore this hit single, Brown was thought of strictly as a torch singer. When Ruby Toombs showed her the song, Brown was initially reluctant to do it as it was so rhythmically 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 Ertegn, sensing the time was right, urged her to try the song. The song has a tenor solo by Budd Johnson. Atlantic used a process that it repeated over the years, that is, turning an uptown singer funky. As with Brown, Ertegn'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 *Ray Charles *Bill Haley and His Saddlemen - a country-western/early rockabilly version recorded for Atlantic soon after Brown's version, but not released until 2006 ReferencesCategory:1950 songs Category:1950 singles Category:Ruth Brown songs Category:Louis Jordan songs Category:Number-one singles in the United States Category:Songs written by Rudy Toombs | |
Buy Teardrops from My Eyes now from Amazon <-- Return to songs from 1950 This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1072335064. |