Pledging My Love

"Pledging My Love" is a blues ballad. It was written by Ferdinand Washington and Don Robey and published in 1954.

The song's theme is captured in the title and the opening lines:

:Forever my darling, my love wil be true,:Always and forever, I'll love only you.

The most popular recording of the song was done by Johnny Ace (released by Duke Records as catalog number 136) in 1955 immediately after Ace's death as a result of a drunken game of Russian Roulette.

It was quickly covered by Teresa Brewer (released by Coral Records as catalog number 61362) and The Four Lads (released by Columbia Records as catalog number 40436). Johnny Ace's version peaked on the Billboard charts at position #17. Teresa Brewer's version also charted at #17 that year. [cite book
last = Whitburn
first = Joel
authorlink = Joel Whitburn
title = Top Pop Records 1940-1955
publisher = Record Research
year = 1973 ] On Cash Box magazine's Best-Selling Record charts, where all versions are combined, the song peaked at #11.

Later versions also making the charts were recorded by Roy Hamilton (released by Epic Records as catalog number 9294, #45 on Billboard and #51 on Cash Box in 1958) and Johnny Tillotson (released by Cadence Records as catalog number 1377, #63 on Billboard and #73 on Cash Box in 1960).

The song was also recorded by Elvis Presley late in his career and appears on his 1977 album "Moody Blue", the last album released before Presley's death in 1977.

In 1984, country singer Emmylou Harris released a version of this song and reached #9 on the country charts.

Johnny Ace's "Pledging My Love" was used multiple times in the 1983 film "Christine" directed by John Carpenter and written by Stephen King about a possessed 1958 Plymouth Fury obsessed with a 17 year-old boy. It is briefly heard in "Back to the Future" (1985) when Lorraine Baines is in the car with her future son Marty McFly. The song is also played during the movie "Bad Lieutenant" and another Harvey Keitel movie, "Mean Streets".

Paul Simon wrote a song called "The late great Johnny Ace" and released it on his Hearts and Bones album, and in the early 2000's Simon sang "Pledging my love" live in concert telling the audience that this record was the first one he ever bought.

References