The song is on many lists of all-time greatest country music songs and has been covered by scores of artists over the past fifty years, including Thorleifs, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Don Gibson, Roy Acuff, Lefty Frizzell, Wanda Jackson, Connie Francis, Ray Charles, Anita Carter, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, The Kendalls, Ernest Tubb, Skeeter Davis, The Haden Triplets, Social Distortion and Volbeat.
Singer-songwriter Work released the song as a single in February 1955 on Dot Records, and it reached #5 on Billboard's country music jukebox charts.
[3] The following January, Merle Haggard and The Strangers received considerable airplay for their version, which was the B side of their single "Running Kind".
Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty released a duet version of the song in 1988 and used it as the title track for their final album together.
Although the song was not a radio hit for them, it was a popular number at their concerts and the album sold fairly well via television ads.