B-side "Saturday Date" Genre Rockabilly Label Fernwood | Released 1959 Length 2:10 | |
Writer(s) Gerald H. Nelson, Fred B. Burch | ||
"Tragedy" is a song by Gerald H. Nelson and Fred B. Burch. A recording of the song by Thomas Wayne and the DeLons rose to #5 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1959. A 1961 cover version by The Fleetwoods rose to #10 on the charts. Brian Hyland also recorded it in 1969, but it only made it to #56. Ronnie Dove also recorded a country-flavored version of the song in 1976, however his version did not chart.
Wayne's hit version was released on Memphis, Tennessee-based Fernwood Records, which was owned by Ronald "Slim" Wallace (1957–1965). The single was made with a trio of girls recruited from the local high school. Wayne was a one hit wonder who cut around 20 songs including a remake of his hit for the reactivated Sun label which sounds similar to the original. Some of his other songs were hits for others such as "This Time" (Troy Shondell) and "Girl Next Door Went a Walkin'" (Elvis Presley). Despite all of his recordings for 3 different labels before his death in a car crash on August 15, 1971, he never cut an album and there has never been any CD been issued of his songs.
Paul McCartney and Wings also recorded a version of the song for the planned 2-LP set Red Rose Speedway. The idea for the 2-LP set was later abandoned and instead they released a single LP with the same title, but without "Tragedy". The Wings' version has not yet been released on any official records.
Brenda Lee recorded a version of the song on her 1961 album All the Way.