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DON ROBERTSON

“THE HAPPY WHISTLER”

(Don Robertson)

Capitol 3391

No. 6    June 2, 1956

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Donald Irwin Robertson (b. Dec. 5, 1922, Peking, China) has become known and respected in the industry

as one of the best postwar C & W tunesmiths, and has been credited with creating the “country piano” or

“Nashville piano” style that was largely popularized by Floyd Cramer.  Yet Don never managed to have

his own C & W hit, and were it not for “The Happy Whistler,” the public-at-large might never have taken

notice of the man.

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Don’s father was a distinguished physician who once headed the Department of Medicine at Peking Union

Medical College.  When Dr. Robertson was offered a position at the University of Chicago, the fam­ily moved

there; Don was four years old, and began tak­ing piano and composition lessons.  The Robertson family

summered in Birchwood Beach, Michigan, where Carl Sandburg, a family friend, lived.  Carl’s American

Songbag, an anthology of almost 300 folk songs assembled during the poet’s years of wandering the nation’s

farmlands, was published in 1927, and with Sandburg’s aid, Don learned many of these tunes.  Don played

in. school bands, and by the age of 14 was playing piano in local dance bands.  After dropping out of a pre-

med program and  studying at the Chicago Musical College, Robertson worked as a musical arranger for

radio WGN.

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In 1955, he moved to L. A., where he landed a position as a rehearsal and demo keyboardist for Capitol

Records.  “The Happy Whistler,” Robertson’s first solo side, was a full-fledged fluke hit.  The whistled

instrumental, while not quite countrified and hardly mainstream pop, was a memorably melodic march

just gorged with gaiety.  The closest Don ever got to the Hot 100 again came with the release of “Bom to

Be With You” (1960) and “The Tennessee Waltz” (1961).  The former, a one­ off duet with BONNIE GUITAR,

was recorded under the name of the Echoes [not to be confused with THE ECHOES responsible for “Baby

Blue”).

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As a C & W songwriter, Robertson has been phe­nomenally prosperous.  Elvis recorded a dozen of his

tunes, including “Anything That Is a Part of You” (#31,1962), “I’m Yours” (#11, 1965), “I Really Don’t

Want to Know” (#21, 1971), “They Remind Me Too Much of You” (#53, 1963), and “There’s Always Me”

(#56, 1967).  His songs have also been recorded by Eddie Arnold, the Chordettes, LORN£ GREENE,

Sonny James, HANK LOCK­ LIN, and Les Paul & Mary Ford.

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When the Country Music Hall of Fame was opened in 1967, Don Robertson’s name was in its Walkway

of the Stars.