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"I'll Walk Alone"
#1 weeks: 1
weeks: 1944-10-14
artist: Dinah Shore

"I'll Walk Alone" is a 1944 popular song with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Sammy Cahn. The song, like others that came out during the World War II years such as "Till Then," reflects the enforced separation of couples caused by the war. While "Till Then" is written from the point of view of the soldier wanting his lover to wait for him, "I'll Walk Alone" is written from the point of view of the stay-at-home lover, promising to be true.

Dinah Shore made the best-known version of this song, introducing it in the Universal Studios film "Follow the Boys" and taking it to the top of the charts (her first #1 hit) for four weeks in 1944, and in fact recorded the song in the early 1960s as well. Martha Tilton also fared well, placing the song in Billboard's Top Ten. Oddly, when the song was revived in the 1950s, it was often done by male singers, with a very popular version being done by Don Cornell (1952 top ten).

Oddly, teen idol Ricky Nelson recorded a version for his 1958 album Ricky Nelson

For the film, Flags of Our Fathers, director Clint Eastwood sings his version of the song on the soundtrack.