"Lonesome Town" is a song written by

Baker Knight Thomas Baker Knight Jr. (July 4, 1933 – October 12, 2005) was an American songwriter and musician. His best known compositions were " Lonesome Town", "The Wonder of You", and " Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time". His songs have ...

. A version sung by

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard "Ricky" Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician and actor. From age eight, he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he began a ...

became a

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

in the United States, reaching No. 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 15 on the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

in 1958. The song was featured on his 1959 album, '' Ricky Sings Again''. Nelson is accompanied on the recording by the vocal quartet

The Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vo ...

Other versions

Johnny Tillotson Johnny Tillotson (April 20, 1938 – April 1, 2025) was an American singer-songwriter. He enjoyed his greatest success in the early 1960s, when he scored nine top-ten hits on the pop, country, and adult contemporary ''Billboard'' charts, incl ...

recorded and released his version of this song in 1962. *

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

recorded it for his 1999 album '' Run Devil Run''. He also performed the song live alongside David Gilmour for a 1999

PETA People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; ) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. Founded in March 1980 by Newkirk and animal right ...

fundraiser concert. *

The Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson (musician), Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar acro ...

recorded at least two versions of this song, the first released in 1961 on their album ''The Ventures'' (subsequently mistitled on later CDs as ''Lonesome Road'') and the second, new recording on their 1975 cassette-only album ''Hollywood Metal Dinamic Sound 3000''. *The song was covered by the psychobilly band

The Cramps The Cramps were an American rock band formed in 1976 and active until 2009. Their lineup rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy the only ever-present members. T ...

on the EP ''Gravest Hits'' and also featured on compilations ''Off the Bone'' and ''How to Make a Monster''. *Australian singer

Jason Donovan Jason Sean Donovan (born 1 June 1968) is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap ''Neighbours'', playing Scott Robinson, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 millio ...

recorded it for his album '' Let It Be Me'' (2008). * Milton Mapes recorded a cover version for the covers compilation soundtrack released in support of video game '' Stubbs the Zombie'' in 2005. *The song was covered and released as single by English garage legend Holly Golightly. The song also appears on ''Singles Round-Up''. *The song was covered by Portuguese rocker Legendary Tiger Man with

Rita Redshoes Rita Pereira (born 10 July 1981), known by her stage name Rita Redshoes, is a solo musical artist from Portugal. In 1996 she sang with her first band, Atomic Bees, releasing an album in 2000 entitled ''love.noises.and.kisses''. In 2003, she was ...

on vocals on his 2009 album ''Femina''. *The song was covered by

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the leader and frontman of the Rock music, rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s sup ...

and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

on their ''Live on Air / Radio Broadcast 1986 Live album''. *

Françoise Hardy Françoise Madeleine Hardy (; 17 January 1944 – 11 June 2024) was a French singer-songwriter, actress, and author. She was known for singing melancholic, sentimental ballads. Hardy rose to prominence in the early 1960s as a leading figure in F ...

recorded a version in French, ''La Rue des cœurs perdus'' in 1968. *

Richard Hawley Richard Willis Hawley (born 17 January 1967) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. After his first band Treebound Story (formed while he was still at school) broke up, Hawley found success as a member of Britpop band Long ...

recorded it as a b-side for his 2008 single "Valentine".

In media

* The song appears on

the soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured ...

to the film ''

Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence ...

''. The song is played as characters Mia and Vincent begin their conversation in the restaurant. * The song was used on the NBC television series ''Heroes'' in chapter 14 of the fourth season, in the episode "Close to You", which aired January 11, 2010. * The song was used in Episode 4 of the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series ''

The End of the F***ing World ''The End of the F***ing World'' is a British black comedy-drama television programme. The eight-part first series premiered its first episode on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 24 October 2017, after which the following episodes were release ...

''. * The song was used in the trailer for the

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

series '' Castle Rock''. *

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

, guitarist for the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

, recorded two versions during the 1974 sessions for his solo album '' Compliments''. Neither version were included on the original release but both, one being acoustic, were included in the 2004 box set '' All Good Things: Jerry Garcia Studio Sessions''. *The song is used in the beginning of Grantchester season 7 episode 3 on PBS. *The song is used in Will Gowling’s play The Model. *The song was used in the NBC television Series "Crossing Jordan" in season 2, episode 8 "Don't Look Back."

References

1958 songs 1958 singles Songs written by Baker Knight Imperial Records singles Rock ballads Rockabilly songs Songs about loneliness Ricky Nelson songs The Ventures songs Hep Stars songs {{1950s-single-stub