Four years later it was recorded by Jimmy Heap & the Melody Masters (in 1953), and with even better success by Patti Page (1954), Ray Price (1954), and Kitty Wells (1954).
[1] The Everly Brothers followed in 1963, along with Lucille Starr including a translation in French (1964), Jerry Wallace (1966), Dean Martin (1967), and Engelbert Humperdinck (1967), whose version reached number one on the UK Singles Chart.
[2] Humperdinck’s version of “Release Me” has the distinction of holding the number one slot in the UK for six weeks during March and April 1967, preventing the Beatles' "Penny Lane" / "Strawberry Fields Forever" double A-sided single from reaching the top spot.
[3] Although Eddie Miller later claimed to have written the song in 1946—only being able to record it himself in 1949—he actually co-wrote it with Robert Yount in 1949.
[6] Yount signed away his royalty rights to William McCall in 1958, after which the credits to the song officially became "Miller-Stevenson", although multiple variations also existed.
The song had elements of the 44 shuffle, Price's signature sound that would become more evident on future successes such as "Crazy Arms."
[2] Early in 1967, Humperdinck was asked to stand in for Dickie Valentine, who was ill, on Sunday Night at the London Palladium,[2] a TV variety show that was one of the highest-rating programs in the UK at the time.
British journalist and author Peter Hitchens has described Humperdinck's hugely successful version as "the real revolutionary anthem of the Sixties" and "far more influential than Bob Dylan", drawing a comparison between the song's lyrics and the desire of the public to be released from the social conservatism that had prevailed in society until the 1960s.
[24] The Johnny Adams version of the song was used in the 2009 film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans in a POV shot of iguanas on a coffee table.