[78-L] Weems' ongoing Heartaches

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen Davies" <SDavies at mtroyal.ca>
> Please help set the record straight.  I'm reading bits and pieces of this 
> fabled story on the WWW which don't fit together.
> Would you say that the following is the correct history of this tune?
>
> Ted Weems, with Elmo Tanner on lips, recorded "Heartaches" for Bluebird in 
> 1933 (cat# 5131-B, mx# 76847=1).
> He then took his orchestra to Decca, and re-recorded "Heartaches" with 
> Tanner in 1938 (cat# 2020-B, mx# DLA1444).
> Decca then re-released "Heartaches" as the A-side in 1941, b/w "Oh, 
> Monah".  (cat# 25017-A).
> Weems then rejoined RCA Victor who re-released *OR* remade the Bluebird 
> side as cat#20-2175 in 1947, when the song finally hit the jackpot.  Elmo 
> Tanner rejoins the Weems orchestra as a result.
>
> Was the 1947 Victor a remake or a re-release? and was it the cause or the 
> result of a grassroots popularity for the song?
>
What I know...
RCA reissued their original recording of the tune after it suddenly 
re-gained popularity...the story
goes that a deejay played the record on his radio show, to an audience who 
enjoyed it and
started looking for copies (in 1946-47)!

It seems that the tune was always popular among Weems' fans...enough that 
Decca decided
to re-record the tune, complete with Elmo Tanner's whistling, after they 
added Weems to their
roster! I don't know that Tanner, who was the regular male vocalist for 
Weems, ever left
the band...?!

Also note that Decca 25017 is in a series which Decca used to re-issue hit 
tunes...!

Steven C. Barr