Heartaches (song) - Ted Weems Cover

Ted Weems Cover

The biggest recorded version of the song was by the Ted Weems Orchestra, with Elmo Tanner whistling. The recording was made in 1933 on Bluebird B-5131 but subsequently revived (not in a new recording, but in the original 1933 recorded version) fourteen years later. In early 1947, Kurt Webster, a disc jockey on WBT, the 50,000 watt station in Charlotte, North Carolina, had a program, "Midnight Dancing Party," which was heard along the East Coast from Bangor, Maine to Boot Key, Florida. One night, he apparently picked up the old Weems version of "Heartaches" and played it. Possibly it was one of those "I wonder where he is today" situations, because Weems had dissolved his band in early 1942 after he and many musicians went off to fight in World War II. Webster liked the tune so much that he continued to play it, almost nightly. Listeners also began to request it and the song attracted national attention. Single-handedly Webster launched "Heartaches" to its revived national success. Because of that one tune and recording, Weems revived his band briefly to capitalize on "Heartaches." This recording was jointly released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-2175 and Weems' 1938 re-recording on Decca Records as catalog number 25017. The Victor version first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on February 21, 1947 and lasted 16 weeks on the chart, peaking at #1.