"Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy" (also known as "Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy") is a popular

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

written by Harry Stone and Jack Stapp and published in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

. It is the signature song of

Red Foley Clyde Julian "Red" Foley (June 17, 1910 – September 19, 1968) was an American musician who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II. For more than two decades, Foley was one of the biggest stars of the gen ...

who recorded it in late 1949. The song has been covered by many artists, including

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

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

, and

Faron Young Faron Young (February 25, 1932 – December 10, 1996) was an American country singer, musician, and songwriter from the early 1950s into the mid-1980s. His hits including " If You Ain't Lovin' (You Ain't Livin')" and " Live Fast, Love Hard, Die ...

who scored a hit with the song in 1959. Many versions of the song charted in 1950, but the most successful was by

, whose recording, produced by

Owen Bradley William Owen Bradley (October 21, 1915 – January 7, 1998) was an American musician, bandleader and record producer who, along with Chet Atkins, Bob Ferguson, Bill Porter, and Don Law, was a chief architect of the 1950s and 60s Nashville sou ...

at the Castle Studio in Nashville, was released by

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

as catalog number 46205. The record first reached the ''

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 advertis ...

'' charts on January 13, 1950, and lasted 15 weeks on the chart, peaking at number one. Foley's recording also went to number one on the country chart and stayed at the top spot for three months. It featured guitarist

Grady Martin Thomas Grady Martin (January 17, 1929 – December 3, 2001) was an American session guitarist in country music and rockabilly. A member of The Nashville A-Team, he played guitar on hits such as Marty Robbins' "El Paso", Loretta Lynn's " Coal M ...

. Other charting versions were recorded by

Phil Harris Wonga Philip Harris (June 24, 1904 – August 11, 1995) was an American actor, bandleader, entertainer and singer. He was an orchestra leader and a pioneer in radio situation comedy, first with '' The Jack Benny Program'', then in '' The Phil ...

, Bradford & Romano and Bill Darnel. The Crosby recording was made on January 3, 1950 and was released by Decca Records as catalog number 24863. The record first reached the ''Billboard'' charts on February 4, 1950, and lasted 13 weeks on the chart, peaking at number four. The Sinatra recording was released by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

as catalog number 38708. The record first reached the ''Billboard'' charts on March 10, 1950, and lasted one week on the chart, at number 24. The Harris recording was released by

RCA Victor Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

as a 78 rpm single (catalog number 20-3692) and a 45 rpm single (catalog number 47-3216). The record first reached the ''Billboard'' charts on March 17, 1950, and lasted two weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 26. The Darnel recording was released by

Coral Records Coral Records was a subsidiary of Decca Records that was formed in 1949. Coral released music by Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, the McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer. Coral issued jazz and swing music in the 1940s, but after Bob Thiele became head ...

as catalog number 60147. The record first reached the ''Billboard'' charts on March 3, 1950, and lasted one week on the chart, at No. 26.

Other versions

* Pat Boone on the album '' Howdy!'' 1957. *

Freddy Cannon Frederick Anthony Picariello, Jr. (born December 4, 1936), better known by his stage name Freddy Cannon, is an American rock and roll singing, singer. His biggest international hits included "Tallahassee Lassie", "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans", ...

recorded it for his debut 1960 album '' The Explosive Freddy Cannon''. As a single from the album, it charted at #34 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), ...

'' on March 19, 1960.

References

1950 songs 1950 singles Red Foley songs Bing Crosby songs Frank Sinatra songs Number-one singles in the United States {{pop-standard-stub

Other versions

See also

References