Several hit songs became hit songs because someone heard someone else’s recording of the song and decided to re-record it.  All that might sound like either a severe dysfunctional family or a plot for a TV movie, but it has happened several times in the music business.

And as the story goes, Ray Price’s monster hit record, “Crazy Arms,” was just such a tune!

Claude Cavender, one of the original owners of  Pamper Music Company, happened to ask steel guitar player Ralph Mooney, if he had any songs. Mooney mentioned a song that he and Troy Seals had just written, called “Crazy Arms.” Mooney mentioned that the song was a different type of song but that it could be a hit. So Cavender took the song and recorded it with his wife. The record never got off the back burner but a Florida disc jockey told Ray Price about the song. Ray became interested in the song after hearing the title so the disc jockey played the record  for him.  And the song became Ray’s next Columbia single and the rest is country music history!

“Crazy Arms” entered the country music charts May 26^th, 1956 and made it to number one, where it stayed for 20 weeks. It was Ray’s 8^th charted song and was on the country charts for 45 weeks.

Doug Davis
Country Music Classics