Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain

"Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" is a song written by songwriter Fred Rose. Originally performed by Roy Acuff, the song was later recorded by Willie Nelson as part of his 1975 album Red Headed Stranger. Both the song and album would become iconic in country music history and jump start Nelson's success as a singer and recording artist. (He had thus far been primarily successful as a songwriter for other artists.)

Prior to the success of "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," Nelson had enjoyed some widespread success primarily as a songwriter, with such songs as "Crazy" (Patsy Cline) and "Hello Walls" (Faron Young). As a performer, Willie hit the Top 10 of the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart just twice; it had happened in 1962, once as a solo artist ("Touch Me") and again as part of a duet with Shirley Collie ("Willingly"). Thereafter, Nelson had approached the Top 20 on occasion, but went 13 years without a Top 10 hit. 1975 was the magic year.

"Willie's First Major Hit"

In October 1975, the song became Nelson's first No. 1 hit as a singer, and at year's end was the third-biggest song of 1975 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. In addition, the song gained modest airplay on Top 40 radio, reaching number twenty one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" #302 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All time.