Video hit Bonnie Raitt & Norah Jones

Bonnie Raitt & Norah Jones - Tennessee Waltz

Tennessee Waltz is a popular/country music song with lyrics by Redd Stewart and music by Pee Wee King written in 1946 and first released in December 1947 as a single by Cowboy Copas that same year. The song became a multimillion seller via a 1950 recording – as "The Tennessee Waltz" – by Patti Page.

All versions of the lyrics narrate a situation in which the persona has introduced his or her sweetheart to a friend who then waltzes away with her or him. The lyrics are altered for pronoun gender on the basis of the sex of the singer.

The popularity of "Tennessee Waltz" also made it the fourth official song of the state of Tennessee in 1965.

As of 1974, it was the biggest selling song ever in Japan.

"Tennessee Waltz" returned to the charts in the fall of 1959 with a rockabilly version recorded by both Bobby Comstock & the Counts and Jerry Fuller: on the Billboard Hot 100 the versions respectively reached #52 and #63 while Cash Box assigned both versions a joint ranking on its Top 100 Singles chart with a peak position of #42.

In 1964 "Tennessee Waltz" was recorded in a rock and roll ballad style by Alma Cogan; this version was #1 in Sweden for five weeks and also reached the Top 20 in Denmark while a German language rendering (with lyrics by Theo Hansen) reached #10 in Germany. The success of Cogan's version has inspired remakes by Swedish singers Kikki Danielsson (Wizex (on the 1978 album Miss Decibel) and Lotta Engberg (on the 2000 album Vilken härlig dag) and – with the German lyrics – by Heidi Brühl, Gitte, Renate Kern and Ireen Sheer.

Sam Cooke recorded a double-time version of "Tennessee Waltz" for his Ain't That Good News album recorded 28 January 1964 at the RCA Studio in Hollywood. Released March 1, 1964, Ain't That Good News would be the final album release of new material by Cooke, and "Tennessee Waltz," coupled with another album track: "Good Times," would be the final Sam Cooke single released during the singer's lifetime, with "Tennessee Waltz," the original B-side, becoming sufficiently popular to chart at #35. Cooke performed "Tennessee Waltz" – and also "Blowin' in the Wind" – as a guest on the premiere of Shindig! broadcast 16 September 1964.

Al Hirt released a version on his 1965 album, Live at Carnegie Hall.

In 1966, Otis Redding recorded a version of "Tennessee Waltz" featuring Booker T & the MGs on his classic R&B album The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul.

Manfred Mann included a version of the song on their number-one EP in 1966.

Johnny Jones – a native of Atlanta who had briefly replaced Sam Cooke in the Soul Stirrers before Johnnie Taylor joined the group – reached #49 R&B in 1968 with his deep soul rendition of "Tennessee Waltz" cut for producer Bobby Robinson's Fury Records.

In 1972, American Spring recorded a cover of "Tennessee Waltz" produced by Brian Wilson to open their debut album, Spring.

Lacy J. Dalton hit #18 on the C&W chart in Billboard with her gritty reworking of "Tennessee Waltz" in 1980.

In 1983 the song was featured on the James Brown album Bring It On (Churchill Records).

American R&B and boogie-woogie pianist and singer Little Willie Littlefield recorded a version for his 1990 album Singalong with Little Willie Littlefield.

Norah Jones performed "Tennessee Waltz" as an encore during a live show at the House of Blues in New Orleans on August 24, 2002. It is featured as extra material on the following DVD-release of the show.

Leonard Cohen released a live version of "Tennessee Waltz" recorded in 1985– one of the few covers he's ever cut – on his 2004 album Dear Heather; this version featured an additional verse written by Cohen himself.

Belle and Sebastian used the melody from "Tennessee Waltz" in their song Slow Graffiti.

Other artists who have recorded "Tennessee Waltz" (with the parent album): LaVern Baker (Woke Up This Mornin' 1993), Eva Cassidy (Imagine 2002), Holly Cole (Don't Smoke in Bed 1993), Connie Francis, Emmylou Harris (Cimarron 1981), Tom Jones backed by The Chieftains (Long Black Veil 1995), (1995), Pete Molinari (Today, Tomorrow and Forever 2009), Anne Murray (Let's Keep It That Way 1978), Elvis Presley, Billie Jo Spears (Country Girl 1981) and Lenny Welch.

Kelly Clarkson performed the song at the 2013 Grammy Awards as part of a tribute to Patti Page.

The lyrics:

I was dancin' with my darlin' to the Tennessee Waltz

When an old friend I happened to see

I introduced her to my loved one and while they were dancin'

My friend stole my sweetheart from me

I remember the night and the Tennessee Waltz

Now I know just how much I have lost

Yes, I lost my little darlin' the night they were playing

The beautiful Tennessee Waltz

Yes, I lost my little darlin' the night they were playing

The beautiful Tennessee

They were playing the Waltz on the night I lost my love