B-side "Tattletale Eyes" Format 7" Genre Country | Released November 1976 (US) Recorded December 12, 1974 Length 2:21 | |
"Near You" is a popular song written and originally recorded by Francis Craig in 1947, with lyrics by Kermit Goell, that has gone on to become a pop standard.
Contents
Background
The recording by Francis Craig (the song's composer) was released by Bullet Records as catalog number 1001. It first reached the Billboard Best Sellers chart on August 30, 1947, and lasted 21 weeks on the chart, peaking at number one. On the "Most Played By Jockeys" chart, the song spent 17 consecutive weeks at number one, setting a record for both the song and the artist with most consecutive weeks in the number-one position on a US pop music chart. In 2009, hip-hop group The Black Eyed Peas surpassed Craig's record for artist with most consecutive weeks in the number-one position with the songs "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling". However, their record was accomplished with combined weeks of two #1 songs - one succeeding the other in the top position. Billboard ranked it as the No. 1 song overall for 1947.
George Jones and Tammy Wynette
In 1977, "Near You" became a number-one country hit for the duo of George Jones and Tammy Wynette, one of the more unlikely compositions the two country legends ever sang together. Recorded in the winter of 1974, its atypical arrangement showed that country fans still had an appetite for any music performed by the estranged couple, who had been country music's "First Couple" in the early seventies. In fact, it was their second consecutive #1 single since their divorce in 1975; they had only managed to top the charts once during their six-year marriage with "We're Gonna Hold On" in 1973.
Other versions
Other recordings of the song that charted on the Billboard best seller in 1947 include: