"Release Me" (sometimes rendered as "Release Me (and Let Me Love Again)") 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 Eddie Miller and

Robert Yount Robert Gene Yount (October 20, 1929 – June 30, 2005) was an American musician, singer and songwriter in the country music genre. He was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Between 1949 and 1954 Yount worked as a guitarist and songwriter for Edd ...

in 1949. Four years later it was recorded by

Jimmy Heap Jimmy Heap (March 3, 1922 - December 3, 1977) was an American country musician who was popular in the 1950s. He was the original artist for Release Me and "The Wild Side of Life". Biography Jimmy Heap was born in Taylor, Texas on March 3, 1922. ...

& the Melody Masters (in 1953), and with even better success by

Patti Page Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), better known by her stage name Patti Page, was an American singer. Primarily known for Pop music, pop and Country music, country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and b ...

(1954), Ray Price (1954), and

Kitty Wells Ellen Muriel Deason (August 30, 1919 – July 16, 2012), known professionally as Kitty Wells, was an American pioneering female country music singer. She broke down a barrier for women in country music with her 1952 hit recording " It Wasn't God ...

(1954). Jivin' Gene Bourgeois & the Jokers recorded the tune in 1960, and that version served as an inspiration for Little Esther Phillips, who reached number one on the R&B chart and number eight on the

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

with her big-selling cover.

The Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, ...

followed in 1963, along with Lucille Starr including a translation in French (1964), Jerry Wallace (1966),

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...

(1967), and Engelbert Humperdinck (1967), whose version reached number one on the UK Singles Chart. Humperdinck’s version of “Release Me” has the distinction of holding the number one slot in the UK for six weeks during March and April 1967, preventing

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' "

Penny Lane "Penny Lane" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double A-side single with "Strawberry Fields Forever" in February 1967. It was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwr ...

" / "

Strawberry Fields Forever "Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on 13 February 1967 as a double A-side single with "Penny Lane". It represented ...

" double A-sided single from reaching the top spot. Humperdinck's "Release Me" was also the highest selling single of 1967 in the UK, recording over one million in sales. Actual sales stand at 1.38 million copies.

Writing credits

Although Eddie Miller later claimed to have written the song in 1946—only being able to record it himself in 1949—he actually co-wrote it with

in 1949. As they were working at that time with Dub Williams, a pseudonym of James Pebworth, they gave him one-third of the song. The song was released with the writing credited to Miller-Williams-Gene, as Yount was using his stage name of Bobby Gene. Although owner of Four Star Records William McCall would usually add his pseudonym "W.S. Stevenson" to the credit of songs he published, he failed to do so in 1949. However, in 1957, Miller and Yount entered into a new publishing agreement with Four Star Records, in which "W.S. Stevenson" replaced Williams as co-writer. Yount signed away his royalty rights to William McCall in 1958, after which the credits to the song officially became "Miller-Stevenson", although multiple variations also existed. For example, Engelbert Humperdinck's United Kingdom 45 is credited to Eddie Miller, Robert Yount, Dub Williams and Robert Harris. The Harris credit, however, turned out to be another pseudonym for James Pebworth (along with Dub Williams). With the bankruptcy of Four Star’s successor in interest, the copyright to the song was acquired by

Acuff-Rose Music Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. was an American music publishing firm formed in 1942 by Roy Acuff and Fred Rose (songwriter), Fred Rose in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Currently, the company's catalog is owned by Sony Music Publishing. Early hi ...

. When the initial term of copyright ended in 1983, it was renewed for a second term. Between 1983 and 1985 Acuff-Rose paid royalties to Yount, until they were notified by the family of the deceased William McCall of the 1958 assignment. Acuff-Rose then suspended payments until the dispute between the claimants was resolved. On December 24, 1996 the United States Courts of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, upheld the claim of the McCalls.

In country music

In country music, "Release Me" became a hit for

, and Ray Price, all in 1954. Even though Price had several major hits beforehand, "Release Me" is sometimes considered his breakthrough hit. The song had elements of the shuffle, Price's signature sound that would become more evident on future successes such as "

Crazy Arms "Crazy Arms" is an American country song which was a career-making hit for Ray Price. The song, released in May 1956, went on to become a number 1 country hit that year, establishing Price's sound, and redefining honky-tonk music. It was Price's ...

." Price's version was part of a double-A sided hit, paired with another song that introduced fans to the shuffle: " I'll Be There (If You Ever Want Me)" Both sides went on to become major hits for Price, with "Release Me" peaking at No. 6 and "I'll Be There" stopping at No. 2.

Engelbert Humperdinck version

In 1965, Engelbert Humperdinck, who at the time was performing under the name of Gerry Dorsey, met up again with an old friend of his,

Gordon Mills Gordon William Mills (15 May 1935 – 29 July 1986) was a successful London-based music industry manager and songwriter. He was born in Madras, British India and grew up in Trealaw in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales. During the 1960s and 1970s, ...

. By that time Mills was successfully managing

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...

. Mills added Dorsey to his management roster and changed his name. As Humperdinck, the singer released a couple of near misses in the UK although one song, "Dommage, Dommage", was successful in Europe. Early in 1967, Humperdinck was asked to stand in for

Dickie Valentine Richard Bryce ( Maxwell; 4 November 1929 – 6 May 1971), known professionally as Dickie Valentine, was a British pop singer who enjoyed great popularity in Britain during the 1950s. In addition to several other Top Ten hit singles, Valentine h ...

, who was ill, on '' Sunday Night at the London Palladium'', a TV

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...

that was one of the highest-rating programs in the UK at the time. He sang "Release Me" on the show. It reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 2 March and stayed there for six weeks, keeping "

" / "

" by

off the top spot, the first time the Beatles had not reached the top since their debut single. Humperdinck's recording stayed in the charts for a record fifty-six consecutive weeks. The B-side, "

Ten Guitars "Ten Guitars" is a 1967 song by the English singer Engelbert Humperdinck. It was the B-side to his single " Release Me". The song is especially well known in New Zealand, where it has become a beloved folk song and is considered by some to be the ...

", became a surprise hit in New Zealand among young Maori moving to the cities for work, and, not long after, the wider New Zealand music scene as well. ''Ten Guitars'' later served as the name for a documentary on New Zealand popular music.

Chart performance

Gospel versions

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 ...

and The Kingsmen Quartet each released a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

version, "Release Me (From My Sin)". Jones’ cover was on his album, '' In a Gospel Way'', that came out in 1974.

Other versions

*Ray Price (1954) *Kitty Wells (1954) *Jimmy Heap (1954) *

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis m ...

(1958) *

Lefty Frizzell William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country and honky-tonk singer-songwriter. Frizell is known as one of the most influential country music vocal stylists of all time. He has been cited as in ...

(1959) * Wilburn Brothers (1962) (album ''City Limits'') * Little Esther Phillips (1962) *

Bobby Darin Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor who performed Pop music, pop, Swing music, swing, Folk music, folk, rock and roll, and country music. Darin started ...

(1963) *

Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, an ...

(1963) (album ''Sing Great Country Hits'') *Cindy Malone (1963) *

Billy Vaughn William Vaughn, popularly known as Billy Vaughn (born Richard Smith Vaughn, April 12, 1919 – September 26, 1991) was an American musician, singer, multi-instrumentalist, orchestra leader, and A&R man for Dot Records. Biography Vaughn was bor ...

(1963) *

The Orlons The Orlons are an American Rhythm and blues, R&B group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that formed in 1960. The group won Music recording sales certification, gold discs for three of their single (music), singles. Career The quartet consisted ...

(1963) (album ''All The Hits'') * Lucille Starr (1964) * Jerry Wallace (1966) *

(1967) *Engelbert Humperdinck (1967) *

Matt Monro Matt Monro (born Terence Edward Parsons; 1 December 1930 – 7 February 1985) was an English singer. Known as "The Man with the Golden Voice", he performed internationally during his 30-year career and sold a reported 23 million records. AllMus ...

(1967) *Los Quandos (1967) (in Spanish with the title "Sueltame") *John Vance Sound (1967) *

Floyd Cramer Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "whole-step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signatur ...

(1967) (album ''Class of '67'') *

Johnny Adams Laten John Adams Jr. (January 5, 1932 – September 14, 1998), was an American blues, jazz and gospel singer, known as "The Tan Canary" for the multi-octave range of his singing voice, his swooping vocal mannerisms and falsetto. His biggest ...

(1968) *

Earl Grant Earl Grant (January 20, 1931 – June 10, 1970) was an American pianist, organist, and vocalist popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Career Grant was born in Idabel, Oklahoma. Though he would be known later for his keyboards and vocals, Grant also ...

(1968) *

(1968, 1998) *

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

(1968, 1982) *

Johnny Paycheck Johnny Paycheck (born Donald Eugene Lytle; May 31, 1938 – February 19, 2003) was an American country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member notable for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It". He achieved his greates ...

(1968) * Clifton Chenier (1969) *

(1969) * Toni Williams (1969) * John Holt (1970s) *

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

(1970) * Los Freddy's (1970) (in Spanish with the title "No Te Olvidaré") * Roger Ruskin Spear (1971) * Victor Wood (1971) (album ''Mr. Lonely'') *

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "Hey Loretta", "The Pill (song), The P ...

Conway Twitty Harold Lloyd Jenkins (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), better known by his stage name Conway Twitty, was an American singer and songwriter. Initially a part of the 1950s rockabilly scene, Twitty was best known as a country music performer. ...

(1973) *

Charlie McCoy Charlie McCoy (born Charles Ray McCoy, March 28, 1941) is an American harmonica virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist in country music. He is best known for his harmonica solos on iconic recordings such as " Candy Man" ( Roy Orbison), "He Stoppe ...

(1973) *

Johnny Rodriguez Juan Raoul Davis "Johnny" Rodriguez (December 10, 1951 – May 9, 2025) was an American country music singer from Texas. In the 1970s and 1980s, Rodriguez was one of country music's most successful male artists, recording a string of hit songs, ...

(1973) *

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as the Bonzo Dog Band or the Bonzos) was created by a group of British art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelia with surreal humour and avant-garde ar ...

(1974) * Yvette Horner (1977) * Madness (1980, 1986) *(Credited to), "Stumpus Maximus & The Good Ol' Boys" (1989), however the contributors are actually

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drummer), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar, ...

backing their future tour manager Malvin Mortimer; the cover is a parody and starts out as an exaggerated pub-singer version of the opening verses, becoming more and more extreme as the song progresses. In the last verse, Stumpus' histrionics are interrupted by a brief belch, followed by a polite "'scuse me" before going back up to eleven. * The Mike Flowers Pops, another parody. (1996) *

Junior Kimbrough David "Junior" Kimbrough (July 28, 1930 – January 17, 1998) was an American blues musician. His best-known works are "Keep Your Hands off Her" and "All Night Long". In 2023, he was inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame. Early life Kimbrough was b ...

(2002) *

Akira Kobayashi is a Japanese actor and singer. His nickname is . Biography Kobayashi attended Meiji University but left before graduating. He became an actor at Nikkatsu and made his film debut with "Ueru Tamashii" directed by Yuzo Kawashima in 1956. He s ...

& Four Beat Paradise (2005) * George Canyon (2007) *

with

Gillian Welch Gillian Howard Welch (; born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, coun ...

(2010) * Alexander Stenerud (2010 on the Norwegian show '' Beat for Beat'') *

Tokyo Jihen , also known as Tokyo Incidents, is a Japanese rock band formed by Ringo Sheena, after leaving her solo career. The band's debut single "Gunjō Biyori" was released in September 2004, and they ended activities in February 2012. The band sold 2.3 ...

(2010 ULTRA C Live Tour, lead vocals by Ukigumo) *

Lyle Lovett Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957) Lyle Lovett Pageat Allmusic – Lovett's Genre and Styles. Retrieved February 2, 2007 is an American country singer and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded 14 albums and released 25 singles to dat ...

(duet with

k.d. lang Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang (stylised in all lowercase), is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical pe ...

(2012) on the album '' Release Me'')

In popular culture

In 1994, an instrumental version of the song was adopted as the theme music to British

sketch show Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

The Fast Show ''The Fast Show'', also known as ''Brilliant'' in the United States, is a BBC comedy sketch show that ran on BBC Two, BBC 2 from 1994 to 1997, with specials in 2000 and 2014. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Si ...

''. One sketch also featured a performance of the song by comedian

Paul Whitehouse Paul Julian Whitehouse (born 17 May 1958) is a Welsh actor, writer, presenter and comedian. He was one of the main stars of the BBC sketch comedy series ''The Fast Show'' and has starred with Harry Enfield in the shows ''Harry & Paul'' and ''Ha ...

as character Kenny Valentine. In 1997 it featured in an Irish advert for

Jacob's Jacob's is an Irish Brand, brand name for several lines of biscuits and Cracker (food), crackers in Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The brand name is owned by the Jacob Fruitfield Food Group, part of Valeo Foods, which prod ...

Cream Crackers. The Engelbert Humperdinck recording was featured in the episode "Going to Pot" of the 1970s British sitcom '' The Good Life''. British journalist and author

Peter Hitchens Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 1951) is an English Conservatism in the United Kingdom, conservative author, broadcaster, journalist, and commentator. He writes for ''The Mail on Sunday'' and was a Foreign correspondent (journalism), foreign cor ...

has described Humperdinck's hugely successful version as "the real revolutionary anthem of the Sixties" and "far more influential than

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 ...

", drawing a comparison between the song's lyrics and the desire of the public to be released from the

social conservatism Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on Tradition#In political and religious discourse, traditional social structures over Cultural pluralism, social pluralism. Social conservatives ...

that had prevailed in society until the 1960s. The

version of the song was used in the 2009 film '' Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans'' in a POV shot of iguanas on a coffee table. In 2013, the song was recorded by the New Zealand trio Sol3 Mio for their debut album ''Sol3 Mio''.

References

External links

BBC Interview with Engelbert Humperdinck
{{Authority control 1949 songs 1954 singles 1962 singles 1967 singles Engelbert Humperdinck songs UK singles chart number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Songs written by Eddie Miller (songwriter) Schlager songs Ray Price (musician) songs Kitty Wells songs Johnny Adams songs Madness (band) songs Song recordings produced by Don Law Songs about divorce