Walk On By (Leroy Van Dyke song)

"Walk on By" is a song written by Kendall Hayes and performed by American country music artist Leroy Van Dyke. It was released in June 1961 as the first single and title track from the album Walk On By. The song was Van Dyke's most successful single, spending 37 weeks on the country chart and a record-breaking 19 at the number-one position.^[2] "Walk on By" crossed over to the pop chart peaking at number five,^[3] and was named by Billboard magazine as the biggest country music record in history.^[4]

The 19-week run of "Walk On By" is a record that stood for 51 years until "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line reached its 19th week at No. 1 on July 20, 2013; the following week, "Cruise" surpassed the standard when it recorded its 20th week at No. 1. Until Florida Georgia Line surpassed it in total weeks at No. 1, "Walk On By" held the record for most weeks at No. 1 since the introduction of the all-encompassing Hot Country Songs (then called Hot C&W Sides) chart in October 1958; the all-time record for most weeks at No. 1 (21 weeks) is held jointly by three songs: "I'll Hold You In My Heart (Till I Can Hold You In My Arms)" by Eddy Arnold (1947); "I'm Movin' On" by Hank Snow (1950); and "In the Jailhouse Now" by Webb Pierce (1955).

Musicians

• Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland – guitar
• Hargus "Pig" Robbins – piano
• Buddy Killen – bass
• Kennedy, Harold Bradley and Kelso Herston – guitars
• Willie Ackerman – drums
• Margie Singleton – background vocals

Production

• Mort Thomasson – recording engineer^[1]

Cover versions

• Donna Fargo covered the song in 1980. Fargo's version peaked at 43 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. A 1988 cover by Asleep at the Wheel made number 55 on the same chart.
• In 1983 Kikki Danielsson recorded the song on her Singles Bar album.^[5]
• Martina McBride covered this song on her 2005 album Timeless.
• Conway Twitty, Dean Martin, Patti Page, Hank Williams Jr, Kay Starr, Connie Francis, Robert Gordon, and Asleep at the Wheel have also recorded it.^[6]
• A Finnish language cover version of this song has the title "Käy Ohitsein", and has been performed and recorded by several artists, including Laila Kinnunen. Another Finnish version, with slightly different lyrics, had the title "Kun Ohi Käyt", and was performed by Irmeli Mäkelä.
• The Swedish language cover version of this song has the title "Du Kom För Sent", and was recorded by Hakan Ståhre.
• The Estonian language cover version of this song has the title "Sa möödu vaid", with lyrics by Heldur Karmo^[7] and was recorded by Anu Anton, later by Uno Loop and Heidy Tamme. Song also recorded by Ivo Linna with Rock Hotel. Also some other Estonian artists performed covers with the same title and words.

Chart performance

Leroy Van Dyke

Donna Fargo

Asleep at the Wheel

References