"A Little Bitty Tear" is a song written by the American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

Hank Cochran Garland Perry "Hank" Cochran (August 2, 1935 – July 15, 2010) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting during the 1960s, Cochran was a prolific songwriter in the genre, including major hits by Patsy Cline, Ray Price, Eddy ...

. It has been recorded by many musical acts, the first being American recording artist

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

. It has since been recorded by others, including

Wanda Jackson Wanda LaVonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of rock, country and gospel. She was among the first women to have a career in rock and roll, ...

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

(for his 1965 album ''

Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits ''Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits'' is a long-playing vinyl album of country and western themed songs recorded by Bing Crosby for Capitol Records on October 29 and 31, 1963. The album was re-released on CD by Collectors' Choice Music (C ...

''),

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music ...

, The Shadows and Cochran himself.

Burl Ives version

In a 1965 interview with ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' magazine, Cochran stated that he wrote many songs in his car while commuting home from work, including "A Little Bitty Tear". "Nothing prompted the idea for" the song, it "just came into my mind."Hyatt, Wesley (1999). ''The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits'' (Billboard Publications), page 6. Ives recorded the song for his album, '' The Versatile Burl Ives!'', in 1961. This version was released as a single late in the year, and it became one of Ives' highest-charting hits early the next year. It made the top ten on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in February 1962, peaking at number nine. The song nearly topped the ''Billboard'' country music chart, spending two weeks in the runner-up slot, and it spent one week atop the ''Billboard''

Easy Listening chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by sta ...

at the end of February 1962. In

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

, the song spent two weeks at number nine on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in early 1962. Ives also earned

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nominations for the song in the categories Best Country & Western Recording and Best Male Solo Vocal Performance.

Chart performance

Wanda Jackson version

In December 1961, American

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and b ...

and

artist

released her version of Hank Cochran's "A Little Bitty Tear". Jackson's version was recorded two months following the recording session of Ives' version. The song was cut in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in the Bradley Film and Recording Studio on April 20, 1961. Also recorded on the session was Jackson's previous hit single, " In the Middle of a Heartache". The single version of "A Little Bitty Tear" was released one month following the release of Burl Ives' version. Perhaps because of intertwining chart positions, Jackson's single version became a minor hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, only reaching the number eighty-four in early 1962. The song was then issued onto Jackson's studio LP entitled, '' Wonderful Wanda''.

Charts

Hank Cochran and Willie Nelson version

With the release of his new studio album, ''Make the World Go Away'', in 1980,

released his first official version of "A Little Bitty Tear". Cochran recorded the song with friend and American country artist,

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

. The duet version was recorded at the Richey House in

in early 1980. The session was also produced by Cochran, as well as Chuck Howard and Rock Killough. Nelson's guest vocals were not officially credited on the single or the album. "A Little Bitty Tear" was then released as a single in October 1980. The song then entered the ''Billboard''

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...

chart where it reached a peak of fifty-seven. The song became Cochran's highest-charting single since 1963 when "Sally Was a Good Ole Girl" reached the top-twenty of the country songs chart. The song was then issued onto Cochran's 1980 studio effort, ''Make the World Go Away'', on

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

Chart performance

References

External links

Burl Ives 7" vinyl info from discogs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Bitty Tear, A 1961 singles 1961 songs Burl Ives songs Wanda Jackson songs Songs written by Hank Cochran Chet Atkins songs Song recordings produced by Owen Bradley Song recordings produced by Ken Nelson (American record producer) Decca Records singles Capitol Records Nashville singles Elektra Records singles

Burl Ives version

Chart performance

Wanda Jackson version

Charts

Hank Cochran and Willie Nelson version

Chart performance

See also

References

External links