In 1961, a 21-year-old singer named Joe Dowell walked into his first recording session with just three hours to learn a song that Elvis Presley had already taken to No. 1 overseas. Within weeks, Dowell’s version of “Wooden Heart” would accomplish something Elvis’ hadn’t: reach No. 1 in America.
Sixty-five years ago this week, “Wooden Heart” was in the midst of its run atop the Billboard Hot 100, completing one of the more unlikely journeys to No. 1 of the early 1960s.
Elvis had introduced “Wooden Heart” in his 1960 movie G.I. Blues. Adapted from the German folk song “Muss i denn,” the tune was written by Bert Kaempfert, Kay Twomey, Fred Wise and Ben Weisman and even retained portions of the original German lyrics.
Elvis’ recording became an enormous international success, spending six weeks at No. 1 in the U.K. in 1961 and topping the charts in several other countries. But American fans couldn’t simply go out and buy “Wooden Heart” as an Elvis single.
And that opened the door for Dowell.
How Joe Dowell Ended Up Recording Elvis’ ‘Wooden Heart’
According to music historian Fred Bronson’s “The Billboard Book of Number One Hits,” producer Shelby Singleton Jr. went to a screening of G.I. Blues the day before Dowell was scheduled to record his first four songs for Mercury Records’ new Smash label.
One of the songs Singleton heard was “Wooden Heart.”
Elvis already had another single climbing the Hot 100 at the time, “(Marie’s the Name) His Latest Flame,” and Singleton believed it was unlikely RCA would also release “Wooden Heart” as an Elvis single in the United States. He decided Dowell should record it instead.
There was one rather significant obstacle: Dowell didn’t know the song.
He arrived at the recording session at 11 a.m. and was given three hours to learn it. A man named Eddie Wilson came to the office to teach him the German portion.
“I didn’t have any idea what I was singing; I learned the song phonetically,” Dowell recalled to Bronson.
Then he went into the studio and recorded it.
The session also featured a musician who would soon become famous in his own right. Ray Stevens, then at the beginning of his career, played organ on Dowell’s recording.
‘Wooden Heart’ Became Joe Dowell’s First and Only No. 1 Hit
Smash released Dowell’s “Wooden Heart,” and the record entered the Hot 100 at No. 98 on June 26, 1961.
Nine weeks later, it was No. 1.
“Wooden Heart” knocked Bobby Lewis’ “Tossin’ and Turnin'” out of the top spot after Lewis had spent seven weeks at No. 1. Dowell’s record ultimately spent one week atop the Hot 100 and also reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart.
It was an extraordinary beginning for both singer and label: “Wooden Heart” was Dowell’s first single and became the first Smash Records release to reach No. 1 on the Hot 100.
Related: 1957 Ballad, the Only No. 1 by a Female Singer in More Than 2 Years, Dethroned Elvis 69 Years Ago Today
Dowell remembered that his recording had been completed in just three days before he was sent on what Bronson described as a month-long promotional tour.
The young singer had dreamed about hearing himself on the radio for years. Growing up in Illinois, he listened to WLS and later recalled imagining that one day his own voice might come through the speaker.
With “Wooden Heart,” it finally did.
Elvis’ ‘Wooden Heart’ Eventually Came Out in America
Elvis’ recording, meanwhile, had already become a major hit across Europe. In addition to its six-week run at No. 1 in Britain, “Wooden Heart” topped the charts in countries including West Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway.
American listeners eventually got an Elvis single release, but not until years after Dowell’s No. 1 run. RCA issued “Wooden Heart” as the B-side of “Blue Christmas” in the United States in 1964.
For Dowell, matching the success of his debut proved impossible. He followed “Wooden Heart” with “The Bridge of Love,” which reached No. 50, and “Little Red Rented Rowboat,” which climbed to No. 23. He was dropped by the label at age 23.
Dowell eventually stepped away from the recording industry and found another use for the voice that had taken him to No. 1, working in radio and television and writing commercial jingles. He died in 2016 at age 76.
But for one week in the summer of 1961, the young singer who had been given only three hours to learn an unusual song from an Elvis movie sat at the very top of America’s biggest music chart.
Related: Elvis’ Leading Lady in Two Hit Movies Dies at 87
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