The song, released in May 1956, went on to become a number 1 country hit that year, establishing Price's sound, and redefining honky-tonk music.
[4] Ralph Mooney wrote the song in 1949 with Chuck Seals, at a time when he was playing in Wynn Stewart's band on the West Coast.
After she left on the bus, I sat down with my guitar and wrote 'Blue ain't the word for the way that I feel, and a storm is brewing in this heart of mine.'
[9] The up-and-coming Price, who already had several successful recordings by 1956, used "Crazy Arms" to establish himself as a star and to introduce fans to his new Texas shuffle sound: fiddle, pedal steel guitar, walking electric bass and swinging 4/4 rhythm.
[4] Those hallmarks became part of many of Price's biggest hits throughout the mid-to-late 1950s and early 1960s, and set a new standard for honky tonk songs.
Mooney, a pedal steel player on many recordings for Waylon Jennings and Wynn Stewart for over 20 years and a member of the Strangers, said he got the idea for the song after his wife left him because of his drinking problem.
In 1956, just weeks after its original release, the song was recorded at Sun Studios (Memphis) by a young Jerry Lee Lewis, marking the debut of The Killer's career.
Some of the other notable names include Marion Worth, Bing Crosby (for his 1965 album Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits), Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, the Andrews Sisters, Gram Parsons, Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings, Trini Lopez, Mickey Gilley, Great Speckled Bird, Willie Nelson, Patty Loveless, Lucille Starr(#5Can[15]), Marie Osmond, Richard Thompson (as part of The Bunch), and the Jerry Garcia Band.
In addition, Price had a cameo role on a version recorded by Barbara Mandrell, on her 1990 album Morning Sun.