| I Love You Because | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Leon Payne |
| B-Side: | A Link in the Chain of Broken Hearts |
| Genre: | Country |
| Label: | Capitol |
| Prev Title: | Baby Boy |
| Prev Year: | 1948 |
| Next Title: | My Daddy |
| Next Year: | 1951 |
"I Love You Because" is a song written and recorded by country music singer-songwriter Leon Payne in 1949. The song has been covered by several artists throughout the years, including hit cover versions by Al Martino in 1963 and Jim Reeves in 1964.
In 1949, Leon Payne's original version of the song went to number four on the Billboard Country & Western Best Seller lists and spent two weeks at number one on the Country & Western Disk Jockey List, spending a total of thirty-two weeks on the chart.[1] "I Love You Because" was Payne's only song to make the country charts.
| I Love You Because | |
| Type: | song |
| Artist: | Elvis Presley |
| Album: | Elvis Presley |
| Released: | March 23, 1956 |
| Recorded: | July 4–5, 1954 |
| Producer: | Sam Phillips |
"I Love You Because" was first recorded by Elvis Presley in 1954, at SUN Studio, Memphis, Tennessee. The session started on July 4 and ended early on the morning of July 5, the day that he recorded "That's All Right". Producer Sam Phillips did not think "I Love You Because" was the right song for Elvis's first single, but it was instead used as the B-side of "Tryin' to Get to You", both of which can be found on his 1956 debut album Elvis Presley.
| I Love You Because | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Johnny Cash |
| Album: | Sings Hank Williams |
| B-Side: | "Straight A's in Love |
| Genre: | Country |
| Label: | Sun 334 |
The song was also notably covered by Johnny Cash. His version was released by Sun Records as a single (Sun 334, with "Straight A's in Love" on the opposite side)[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] in December 1959,[7] [8] when Cash had already left the label for Columbia.
| I Love You Because | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Al Martino |
| Album: | I Love You Because |
| B-Side: | Merry-Go-Round |
| Released: | April |
| Genre: | Easy listening |
| Length: | 2:40 |
| Label: | Capitol |
| Producer: | Voyle Gilmore |
| Prev Title: | Because You're Mine |
| Prev Year: | 1962 |
| Next Title: | Painted, Tainted Rose |
| Next Year: | 1963 |
In 1963, Al Martino recorded the most successful version of the song, which peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart[9] and number one on the Middle-Road (Adult Contemporary) chart for two weeks in May that year.[10]
In 1963, American country singer Jim Reeves recorded a version of the song for his album Gentleman Jim. Released as a single in 1964, the song peaked at number five in the UK. The song became his most successful single in Norway, topping the VG-Lista chart for 13 weeks.[11] In 1976, the song was the title track of a posthumous Jim Reeves album that peaked at number 24 on the US Country LP chart.[12] Released as a single, it reached number 54 in the US Billboard Country singles chart in that year.
| Chart (1964) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Norway Singles Chart | 1 | |
| Irish Singles Chart | 1 | |
| Dutch Singles Chart[13] | 9 | |
| UK Singles Chart (Official Charts Company)[14] | 5 | |
| US Billboard Hot Country Songs | 54 |