"Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?" is a popular song written by Scotty Wiseman for the 1944 musical film, Sing, Neighbor, Sing and performed by Lulu Belle and Scotty. It was their greatest hit and one of the first country music songs to attract major attention in the pop music field. Although the song was featured in the movie, it was not released by Lulu Belle and Scotty until 1947 (and then again in 1956). The first released version of this song was by Gene Autry in 1945.[1]
Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters recorded the song on November 25, 1949[2] and it had a good reception from the trade magazine Billboard who said: "Ditty’s a sprightly mountain-musiker that had its innings a couple of years back on straight hillbilly diskings. Bing and the gals are in top form as they harmonize it to a spanking fare-thee-well."[3] The record entered the Billboard charts on January 21, 1950, and in a four-week stay it peaked at No. 24.[4]
The earliest and easily most prominent recording of "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" in the early rock era was by Elvis Presley. According to the book of the CD-boxset "Elvis - The Complete 50's Masters", Presley recorded it on January 19, 1957, at RCA's Radio Recorders in Hollywood for his Loving You album. Session musicians for the song included Presley himself on acoustic guitar, Scotty Moore on electric guitar, Bill Black on double bass, D. J. Fontana on drums, Dudley Brooks on piano, Hoyt Hawkins on organ, and the Jordanaires on background vocals.[5] When the song was included on the Loving You album release in July 1957, it immediately prompted both Ricky Nelson and Eddie Cochran to record cover versions of the song. Nelson's was the "B" side of a hit single ("Be-Bop Baby", released in September), while Cochran's was an album cut (released in November). The impact of the Elvis version was felt across the Atlantic.
Gene Autry – one of the first recorded versions of this song, which went to number 3 on the C&W charts in 1946. For many years it was the standard, and still is to many people today.
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