"
Slow Poke" is a
popular song. It 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.
The next-best known version was the recording by
Arthur Godfrey, which was released by
Columbia Records as catalog number 39632. It first reached the
Billboard magazine Best...
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