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"Lovesick Blues" is a show tune written by Cliff Friend and Irving Mills, which has become a popular country song and pop standard. Published through Tin Pan Alley in 1922, the song was first recorded by Emmett Miller. Four years later, the song was a minor hit for blues singer Bertha "Chippie" Hill. The song's most recognizable version did not come until 1948, with Hank Williams' hit rendition.
Though Williams had scored several hits prior to "Lovesick Blues," the song was the first of many number one hits at Country radio for the singer. It also marked one of the songwriter's few cover songs. The song's monumental success led to Williams' tenure at the Grand Ole Opry and remains one of his best remembered songs. In 2004, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.
Since Williams' hit rendition of the song, it has been covered by a wide array of performers. Country performers including Slim Whitman (1957), Patsy Cline (1960), Glen Campbell (1974), and Charley Pride (1973) have recorded their own renditions of the song. Floyd Cramer's rock-and-roll cover crossed over to pop audiences in 1962, while Frank Ifield took the song to #44 there in 1963. In the 1970s, Jerry Lee Lewis, Don McLean, and Linda Ronstadt all covered the song. George Strait took his cover all the way to #24 on the country chart in 1992 with little traditional promotion of the single. Alt-country artist Ryan Adams recorded the song for Timeless, a Hank Williams tribute album.
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