Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins

[7] Singing the Blues in a White Sport Coat

[7] Singing the Blues in a White Sport Coat “Marty Robbins did it this week—yes, he won the cherished Billboard Magazine Triple Crown with his fabulously successful ‘Singing the Blues’ record for Columbia,” said a Nashville Banner article of November 22, 1956. The Triple Crown consisted of three Billboard Country Hit Parade charts—jukebox play, storesales,andradioplay.Runner-uprecordingswereRayPrice’s“CrazyArms,” Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel,” and Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line.”1 “Singing the Blues” had come to Marty’s attention at WSM’s Friday Night Frolic more than a year earlier, when young Melvin Endsley from Arkansas rolled up in his wheelchair and boldly announced, “I have four songs I want you to listen to. Can you stay after the show and hear them?” Marty answered, 54 “Sure, I’ll be glad to.” Endsley sang to the accompaniment of his friend’s lead guitar and Marty’s rhythm guitar. Marty said he liked the songs but not well enough to record them. “Well, I got one more,” Endsley said. “You probably won’t like it.” Marty told him to sing it anyway.2 He sang “I Never Felt More Like Singing the Blues.” Endsley, born in January 1934, contracted polio at age three. He was twelve when a nurse at Crippled Children’s Hospital in Memphis gave him a guitar as a reward for singing at hospital events. He started writing songs, keeping them all in his head. In July 1954 he was holding his guitar and gazing out a window whenthewords“Ineverfeltmorelikesingingtheblues”poppedintohismind. He finished the song and sang it on the air the next day during an amateur program at a local radio station. The favorable reaction made him concerned someone would steal it, so he laboriously wrote words and musical notes and had it copyrighted. A year later he made the trip to Nashville to find someone interested in his fifty songs. Marty took Endsley to Wesley Rose, who signed him as a songwriter with Acuff-Rose Music Publishing. Rose provided a tape recorderforEndsleytotransferhissongsfromhisheadtotape.3 Endsleywould celebrate his twenty-third birthday with his song holding a month-long lock at the top of two major music charts. Martyrecorded“SingingtheBlues”tenmonthsbeforeDonLawreleasedit in September 1956 as the B side of one of Marty’s compositions, “I Can’t Quit (I’ve Gone Too Far).” At first, the two songs climbed the charts together. Folk andCountrySongsmagazineevenaskedreaderstomailinavoteasto“whichside will be the big one.” In the end, “I Can’t Quit” reached number seven. “Singing theBlues”spentthirteenweeksatnumberoneandstayedonBillboard’scountry chartsforsevenmonths.4 ItbecamethefirstofMarty’srecordingstocrossover to the pop charts, staying there four months and peaking at number seventeen. Also in September Marty recorded twelve songs intended for an album. Reminiscent of his early radio shows in Phoenix, he sat with his guitar in front ofthemicrophoneandsangadozentraditionalfolksongsfromasfarbackasthe 1800s. Long-playing albums (LPs) weren’t yet vehicles for choosing hit singles and no airplay was expected from them. After an artist had a large enough fan base the record company would order an album. Its purpose was to produce sales to existing fans, rather than showcasing the artist’s songs. Columbia had packaged and issued Marty’s previously recorded songs twice in 1956 on its 55 [ CH 7 ] Singing the Blues in a White Sport Coat House Party series. Carl, Lefty and Marty held two songs apiece by the three named artists, and Rock’n Rollin’ Robbins contained six rockabilly songs.5 Marty’s September effort was never released. Columbia issued four songs on an extended-play (EP) 45-rpm record, The Letter Edged in Black, and sales apparently weren’t high enough to follow with a full album. In mid-January 1957 he recorded twelve songs made popular by other artists, including his heroes Gene Autry and Eddy Arnold. The Song of Robbins, released in April 1957, became his first official album. In November Billboard’s Tenth Annual Disk Jockey Poll would name him Favorite Male Artist of C&W Jockeys and give Song of Robbins, Marty Robbins the number two spot in the category of Favorite C&W Albums.6 Inthemeantime“SingingtheBlues,”thebiggesthitofMarty’sentirecareer, might have been even bigger if not sabotaged by Columbia Records, his own record company. In New York City, Mitch Miller, head of Artists and Repertory for Columbia (and future host of television show Sing Along With Mitch), chose Guy Mitchell to record a cover version. It entered the pop charts before Marty’s rendering crossed over...