Singing the Blues

“Singing the Blues” is a popular song written by Melvin Endsley and published in 1956. The song was first recorded and released by Marty Robbins in 1956.   It is not related to the 1920 jazz song “Singin’ the Blues” recorded by Frank Trumbauer and Bix Beiderbecke in 1927.   The best-known recording was released in October 1956 by Guy Mitchell and spent ten weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard chart from 8 December 1956, to 2 February 1957. It was Mitchell’s second and last hit in Italy, on national Musica e Dischi Hit Parade, after “My Heart Cries For You” in 1951. An example of the U.S. recording is on Columbia #40769, dated 1956, with the Ray Conniff Orchestra. Mitchell’s version was also No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for three (non-consecutive) weeks in early 1957,[2][3] one of only four singles to rise to No. 1 on the chart on three separate occasions, with the other three being “I Believe” by Frankie Laine, “Happy” by Pharrell Williams and “What Do You Mean?” by Justin Bieber.[4] Mitchell’s version prominently features whistling in the intro and solo sections.  Marty Robbins and Tommy Steele versions – Two other charting versions of the song were released almost simultaneously with Mitchell’s, one by the English singer Tommy Steele (with the Steelmen) and the other (recorded before Mitchell covered it)  by US country singer Marty Robbins.  Tommy Steele’s version of “Singing the Blues” made number 1 in the UK Singles Chart for one week on 11 January 1957, sandwiched by two of the weeks that Guy Mitchell’s version of the same song topped the charts.  Steele’s recording of the song was not a chart success in the US.  The Marty Robbins version made it to number one on the Billboard C&W Best Sellers chart for 13 weeks in late 1956 and early 1957 and peaked at number seventeen on the US pop chart.  In 1983, Gail Davies recorded a cover version, taking her version into the top 20 of the Hot Country Singles chart in the spring of 1983.