"Answer Me" is a popular song, originally titled "Mütterlein", with German lyrics by Gerhard Winkler and Fred Rauch.
English lyrics were written by Carl Sigman, and the song was published as "Answer Me" in New York on 13 October 1953.
[1] Contemporary recordings of the English lyric by Frankie Laine and David Whitfield both topped the UK Singles Chart in 1953.
[3] Sigman originally wrote his English lyrics as a religious-themed song, "Answer Me", in which the first line reads 'Answer me, Lord above', as a question posed to God about why the singer has lost his lover.
[6][7] British light operatic tenor David Whitfield recorded the song on 23 September the same year.
[8] Despite competition from other recordings of "Answer Me", only the two versions by Whitfield and Laine appeared on the UK Singles Chart.
[12] Bunny Lewis, Whitfield's manager and producer, asked songwriter Carl Sigman to amend his lyric.
Other recordings available in the UK during the song's period of chart success were by Monty Norman, Harry Farmer (organ), Reggie Goff, Victor Silvester and his Ballroom Orchestra, and Nat 'King' Cole.
On 9 December 1964, with orchestra arranged and conducted by Ralph Carmichael, Laine recorded "Answer Me, O Lord" in Hollywood.