SLOW POKE
is credited to three writers: Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart, and Chilton Price. Actually Price wrote the song in 1951, as she thought the song described her friend, King, very well. King recorded the song and Stewart did the vocal. Price gave rights to the other two in exchange for publicity, as she felt she knew nothing about the music distribution business. The song did so well commercially that when Price wrote the song "You Belong to Me" the next year, she felt she could do better by ceding partial credit for authorship to King and Stewart than trying to publicize the song herself, so that song as well was credited to King, Stewart, and Price, though Price was the sole author.
The recording by Pee Wee King was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 21-0489 (78rpm) and 48-0489 (45 rpm). It first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on October 21, 1951 and lasted 22 weeks on the chart, peaking at #3. It was his only crossover from the country genre to score on the pop chart. It first reached the country charts on September 21, 1951 and lasted 31 weeks, peaking at #1 and remaining there for 15 weeks.
(Above information from Wikipedia)
--BIOGRAPHY FOR PEE WEE KING--
Pee Wee King, born Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski (February 18, 1914 -- March 07, 2000), was an American country music songwriter and recording artist. He was born in Milwaukee to a Polish American family and lived in Abrams, Wisconsin, during his youth.
King learned to play fiddle from his father, who was a professional polka musician. In the 1930s, he toured and made cowboy movies with Gene Autry. King joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1937.
In 1946, while the bandleader of the Golden West Cowboys, King, together with the band's vocalist, Redd Stewart, composed "THE TENNESSEE WALTZ", a song inspired by "THE KENTUCKY WALTZ" by bluegrass musician Bill Monroe. King and Stewart first recorded "The Tenneesee Waltz" in 1948, and it went on to become a country music standard.
King's other songs included "SLOW POKE" and "YOU BELONG TO ME". His songs introduced waltzes, polkas, and cowboy songs to country music.
He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1974. He died of a heart attack in Louisville, Kentucky, at age 86.
