Tennessee Waltz

Words & Music by Redd Stewart & Pee Wee King
Recorded by Patti Page, 1950 (#1 for 13 weeks)


G      C      G       C               C7        F
I was dancin' with my darlin' to the Tennessee Waltz,

         C           Am7         Dm7    G7
When an old friend I happened to see;

  Dm7   C        G7     C
I introduced her to my loved one,

      C7            F
And while they were dancin',

Dm7  C    C/B  Am7  Dm7       G7   C
My friend stole my sweetheart from me.

     C          E7            F7       C
I remember the night and the Tennessee Waltz --

Dm7    C            Am7         Dm7  G7
Now I know just how much I have lost.

       C       G       C           C7             F
Yes, I lost my little darlin' the night they were playing

    C     Am7 G7          C
The beautiful Tennessee Waltz.

This song is perhaps the classic example that the axiom "less is more" applies to music as well as to any other subject. Almost starkly simple on any level at which it can be analyzed, it hit #1 in the charts and stayed there 13 weeks. Even then, its popularity merely waned; it didn't disappear. The identification of song and singer stayed with Patti Page throughout her career.

The lyric and guitar chord transcriptions on this site are the work of The Guitarguy and are intended for private study, research, or educational purposes only. Individual transcriptions are inspired by and and based upon the recorded versions cited, but are not necessarily exact replications of those recorded versions.