I Love You Because (song)#Elvis Presley version

In 1949, Leon Payne's original version went to number 4 on the Billboard Country & Western Best Seller lists and spent two weeks at number 1 on the Country & Western Disk Jockey List, spending a total of thirty-two weeks on the chart.{{cite book |title= The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=265}} "I Love You Because" was Payne's only song to make the country charts.

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{{Infobox song

| name = I Love You Because

| cover =

| alt =

| type = song

| artist = Elvis Presley

| album = Elvis Presley

| released = March 23, 1956

| recorded = July 4–5, 1954

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| writer = Leon Payne

| producer = Sam Phillips

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| misc =

}}

"I Love You Because" was recorded by Elvis Presley in 1954, at SUN Studio, Memphis, Tennessee. The session started on July 4 and ended early on the morning of July 5, the day that he recorded "That's All Right". Producer Sam Phillips did not think "I Love You Because" was the right song for Elvis's first single, so it was instead used as the B-side of "Tryin' to Get to You", both of which can be found on his 1956 debut album Elvis Presley.{{clear right}}

{{Infobox song

| name = I Love You Because

| cover =

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| type = single

| artist = Johnny Cash

| album = Sings Hank Williams

| B-side = "Straight A's in Love

| released = {{start date|1959|12|}}

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Country

| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=40}}

| label = Sun 334

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| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|zoeMMcFRrkE|"I Love You Because" (audio only)|link=no}}}}

}}

The song was also notably covered by Johnny Cash. His version was released by Sun Records as a single (Sun 334, with "Straight A's in Love" on the opposite side){{cite book|author=John Edwards Memorial Foundation|title=JEMF Quarterly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yh7aAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Straight+A's+in+Love%22+%22Sun+334%22|year=1974|publisher=John Edwards Memorial Foundation}}{{cite book|author=Joel Whitburn|title=Top Country Singles, 1944 to 2001: Chart Data Compiled from Billboard's Country Singles Charts, 1944-2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZszAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Straight+A's+in+Love%22+%22I+Love+You+Because%22+%22Sun+334%22|year=2002|publisher=Record Research|isbn=978-0-89820-151-2}}
{{cite book|author=Joel Whitburn|title=Joel Whitburn's Top Country Songs: 1944-2005, Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OC4KAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Straight+A's+in+Love%22+%22I+Love+You+Because%22+%22Sun+334%22|year=2005|publisher=Record Research|isbn=978-0-89820-165-9}}{{cite book|author=Tim Neely|title=Goldmine Records & Prices|url=https://archive.org/details/goldminerecordsp00neel|url-access=registration|quote=Straight A's in Love I Love You Because Sun 334.|date=2004-05-01|publisher=Krause Publications|isbn=978-0-87349-781-7}}{{cite book|author1=Colin Escott|author2=Martin Hawkins|title=Sun Records: The Brief History of the Legendary Recording Label|url=https://archive.org/details/sunrecordsbriefh00esco|url-access=registration|quote=Straight A's in Love I Love You Because.|year=1980|publisher=Quick Fox|isbn=978-0-8256-3161-0}}{{cite book|author=George Albert|title=The Cash Box Country Singles Charts, 1958-1982|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t5BHAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Straight+A's+in+Love%22+%22Sun+334%22|date=1984-01-01|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-1685-5}} in December 1959,{{cite book|author=Peter Lewry|title=I've Been Everywhere: A Johnny Cash Chronicle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ocQK9YBdRhkC&q=%22Straight+A's+in+Love%22+%22I+Love+You+Because%22+%22Sun+334%22|year=2001|publisher=Helter Skelter|isbn=978-1-900924-22-1|quote=
December
“Straight A's In Love"/"I Love You Because” (Sun 334) released. Both sides of this single will chart during February and March 1960.}}{{cite book|title=The Johnny Cash Record Catalog|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ihbEBcJEx4C&q=%22Sun+334%22&pg=PA21|year=1994|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-29506-5|pages=21–}} when Cash had already left the label for Columbia.

{{Clear}}

{{Infobox song

| name = I Love You Because

| cover =

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Al Martino

| album = I Love You Because

| B-side = Merry-Go-Round

| released = April {{start date|1963}}

| recorded =

| studio =

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| genre = Easy listening

| length = 2:40

| label = Capitol

| writer = Leon Payne

| producer = Voyle Gilmore

| prev_title = Because You're Mine

| prev_year = 1962

| next_title = Painted, Tainted Rose

| next_year = 1963

}}

In 1963, Al Martino recorded the most successful version of the song, which peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/al-martino |title=US Billboard Hot 100 |magazine=Billboard |date=June 1, 1963 |access-date=October 1, 2018}} and number 1 on the Middle-Road (Adult Contemporary) chart for two weeks in May that year.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/al-martino/chart-history/asi/ |title=US Billboard Adult Contemporary - Chart History |magazine=Billboard |date=May 25, 1963 |access-date=October 20, 2018 }}

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In 1963, American country singer Jim Reeves recorded the song for his album Gentleman Jim. Released as a single in 1964, it peaked at number 5 in the UK and became his most successful single in Norway, topping the VG-Lista chart for 13 weeks.[https://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Jim+Reeves&titel=I+Love+You+Because&cat=s JIM REEVES - I LOVE YOU BECAUSE - NorwegianCharts.com] In 1976, the song was the title track of a posthumous Jim Reeves album that peaked at number 24 on the US Country LP chart.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/jim-reeves/chart-history/clp/ |title=Top Country Albums |magazine=Billboard |date=March 20, 1976 |access-date=November 16, 2018}} Released as a single, it reached number 54 in the US Billboard Country singles chart in that year.

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{{Certification Table Entry|region=Norway|nocert=true|salesamount=100,000|salesref={{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JSkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26|title=Reeves' Magic in Norway|magazine=Billboard|page=26|date=October 16, 1965|access-date=December 28, 2022}}}}

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• In 1950, Ernest Tubb and Clyde Moody each recorded their own version, both making the top 10 on the Country & Western charts.
• Carl Smith recorded it for his album I Love You Because (1969). The song peaked at number 14 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1969.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/country-songs/1969-10-04 |title=Hot Country Songs - Billboard |magazine=Billboard |date=October 4, 1969 |access-date=August 26, 2018}}
• In 1983, Roger Whittaker's rendition peaked at number 91 on the Hot Country Singles chart.{{cite book|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|title=Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008|publisher=Record Research, Inc|year=2008|isbn=978-0-89820-177-2|author-link=Joel Whitburn}}

• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1963 (U.S.)

{{reflist}}

{{Carl Smith}}

{{Ernest Tubb}}

{{Johnny Cash}}

{{Jim Reeves}}

{{Roger Whittaker}}

{{Willie Nelson singles}}

{{Elvis Presley singles}}

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Category:1949 songs

Category:1959 singles

Category:1963 singles

Category:1964 singles

Category:Al Martino songs

Category:Johnny Cash songs

Category:Carl Smith (musician) songs

Category:Jim Reeves songs

Category:Songs written by Leon Payne

Category:Ernest Tubb songs

Category:Clyde Moody songs

Category:Leon Payne songs

Category:Elvis Presley songs

Category:Capitol Records singles

Category:Sun Records singles