"Burning Bridges" is a song written by Walter Scott, and best known for its 1960 recording by Jack Scott, which was a #3 hit in the US. This was the only hit song for composer Walter Scott, who was no relation to Jack Scott. The song was originally recorded by a relatively obscure country act called The Home Towners in 1957, but did not chart. Recorded by Jack Scott in 1960, "Burning Bridges" reached No. 3 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

, No. 5 on the U.S. R&B chart, and No. 32 on the UK Singles Chart in 1960. The single was produced by

Sonny Lester Sumner Lester (November 15, 1924 – April 28, 2018), better known as Sonny Lester, was an American Grammy-award-winning music producer from New York City. He started his career as a musician in a big band jazz ensemble before being drafted into ...

. It was featured on his 1960 album ''What in the World's Come Over You''.; The song ranked No. 35 on ''Billboard'' magazine's Top 100 singles of 1960. The single's

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, "Oh, Little One", reached No. 34 on the U.S. pop chart. In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

the two sides were co-charted, reaching No. 2. A different “Burning Bridges”, by the

Mike Curb Michael Curb (born December 24, 1944) is an American politician, record executive, and philanthropist who served as the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of California, lieutenant governor of California from 1979 to 1983. He is the founder of Curb Recor ...

Congregation (No. 34,

/No. 16, Adult Contemporary Chart), was featured in the 1970

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

movie, ''

Kelly's Heroes ''Kelly's Heroes'' is a 1970 war comedy drama film directed by Brian G. Hutton. Set during World War II, the film tells the story of a motley crew of American GIs who go AWOL to rob a French bank, located behind German lines, of its stored Na ...

''.

Other charting versions

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'' on CBS television from ...

released a version which reached No. 18 on the U.S. country chart in 1967. *Jack Scott released a new version of the song with

Carroll Baker Carroll Baker (born May 28, 1931) is an American retired actress. After studying under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, Baker began performing on Broadway in 1954. From there, she was recruited by director Elia Kazan to play the lead in t ...

in 1992 which reached No. 55 on the Canadian country chart.

Other versions

The Wilburn Brothers The Wilburn Brothers were an American country music duo from the 1950s to the 1970s, consisting of brothers Virgil Doyle Wilburn (1930–1982) and Thurman Theodore "Teddy" Wilburn (1931–2003). Biography The brothers were born in Hardy, Ar ...

released a version of the song on their 1962 album ''City Limits''. *

Sonny James Jimmie Hugh Loden (May 1, 1928February 22, 2016), known professionally as Sonny James, was an American country music singer and songwriter best known for his 1957 hit, " Young Love", topping both the ''Billboard'' Hot Country and Disk Jockey s ...

released a version of the song on his 1964 album ''You're the Only World I Know''. *

Billy Edd Wheeler Billy Edd Wheeler (December 9, 1932 – September 16, 2024) was an American songwriter, performer, writer, and visual artist. His songs include " Jackson" ( Grammy award winner for Johnny Cash and June Carter) " The Reverend Mr. Black", "Dese ...

released a version of the song as the B-side to his 1965 single "Tonight I'm Singing Just for You". *

Jan Howard Jan Howard (born Lula Grace Johnson; March 13, 1929 – March 28, 2020) was an American author and country music singer and songwriter. As a singer, she placed 30 singles on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Hot Country Songs, country song ...

released a version of the song on her 1967 album ''This Is Jan Howard Country''. *

Connie Smith Connie Smith (born Constance June Meador; August 14, 1941) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Her contralto vocals have been described by music writers as significant and influential to the women of country music. A similarity ...

released a version of the song on her 1968 album '' Soul of Country Music''. *

Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since 1994, he has been a television sports an ...

released a version of the song on his 1976 album ''I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry''. *

Jim Ed Brown James Edward Brown (April 1, 1934 – June 11, 2015) was an American Country music, country singer who achieved fame in the 1950s with his two sisters as a member of the Browns. He later had a successful solo career from 1965 to 1974, followed b ...

and

Helen Cornelius Helen Cornelius (born Helen Lorene Johnson; December 6, 1941) is an American country singer-songwriter, best remembered for a series of hit duets with Jim Ed Brown, many of which reached the U.S. country singles top ten during the late 1970s an ...

released a version of the song on their 1976 album ''I Don't Want to Have to Marry You''. * David Rogers released a version of the song as the B-side to his 1976 single "I'm Gonna Love You Right Out of This World". *

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero ( ; born December 12, 1937), known as Connie Francis, is a retired American Pop music, pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. She is estimated to have sold more th ...

released a version of the song as a single in 1977, but it did not chart. *

Randy Barlow Randy Barlow (March 29, 1943 – July 30, 2020) was an American country music recording artist. Between 1976 and 1983, he released four albums, including three for Republic Records. In the same time span, he charted twenty singles on the ''Billbo ...

released a version of the song as the B-side to his 1978 single "No Sleep Tonight". *

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...

released a version of the song on his 1983 album, '' Jones Country'', and again in 1989 on his album, '' One Woman Man'' and as the B-side to his 1989 single "Writing on the Wall".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burning Bridges (Jack Scott song) 1960 songs 1960 singles 1967 singles 1977 singles 1992 singles Glen Campbell songs Carroll Baker songs The Wilburn Brothers songs Sonny James songs Terry Bradshaw songs Jim Ed Brown songs Helen Cornelius songs David Rogers (singer) songs Connie Francis songs Randy Barlow songs George Jones songs Song recordings produced by Bob Ferguson (musician) Song recordings produced by Jerry Kennedy Song recordings produced by Billy Sherrill Polydor Records singles