"Heartaches by the Number" is a popular and country song written by Harlan Howard and published in 1959.
The biggest hit version was recorded by Guy Mitchell on August 24, 1959. It reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for the weeks of December 14 and December 21, 1959. The recording was released by Columbia Records as catalog number 41476. His recording of the song is featured in the videogame Fallout: New Vegas.
Earlier in the year, the song also made the country music charts in a version by Ray Price (Columbia 41374). Price's version reached number two and spent 40 weeks on the Billboard Hot C&W Sides chart.
Sheet music for the song was a best seller in both the US and Britain in January 1960.
In 1961, a George Jones version of the song was included on the Mercury label album George Jones Sings Country and Western Hits (MG 20624/SR 60624).
Mercury also included a version of the song by Leroy Van Dyke on the album Walk on By (MG 20682/SR 60682).
A later version by Jack Reno reached #26 on the same chart in 1972.
Other artists who have covered this song include: Johnny Tillotson in 1965, Willie Nelson in 1966, Waylon Jennings in 1967, Jerry Lee Lewis in 1969, Dwight Yoakam in 1986, Martina McBride (featuring Dwight Yoakam) in 2005, Connie Francis, and Buck Owens.
Famous quotes containing the words heartaches and/or number:
“What would become of the world if the condemned started to confide their heartaches to the executioners?”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Not too many years ago, a child’s experience was limited by how far he or she could ride a bicycle or by the physical boundaries that parents set. Today ... the real boundaries of a child’s life are set more by the number of available cable channels and videotapes, by the simulated reality of videogames, by the number of megabytes of memory in the home computer. Now kids can go anywhere, as long as they stay inside the electronic bubble.”
—Richard Louv (20th century)