Ray Peterson - Corrina, Corrina (1960)

Ray Peterson was born in Denton, Texas 1939 and suffered from polio as a child. Managing to overcome his disease, he moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of nineteen to pursue a career in singing. After having only been there a year in 1959, Peterson released “The Wonder of You” which reached number twenty-five in the US and twenty-three in the UK. The song would later be covered by Elvis Presley. His biggest hit song came the following year, in 1960, when he released the “teenage tragedy” song titled “Tell Laura I Love Her.” Later that same year, Peterson created his own record label, Dunes Records with his manager Stan Shulman, where he hired record producer Phil Spector. He had a string of mild hits in 1961 and a couple of cooler ones in 1963 and 1964 before the British Invasion took off. After the waning of his popularity, Peterson moved to Nashville, Tennessee and became a Baptist Church minister, where he would occasionally take part in “oldies” tours that celebrated the music of the ‘50s and early ‘60s. He died from cancer in 2005 in Smyrna, Tennessee at the age of 65, leaving behind his widow and seven children.

Although this traditional song was first recorded in December 1928 by Bo Carter, the song has roots dating much farther back. Iterations of the song can be traced back to 1918 via sheet music written by Roger Graham. This particular version of the song, recorded by Peterson in 1960, was the first hit that Peterson released on his newly formed Dunes Record label. It was also his second-highest charting song, after “Tell Laura I Love Her,” reaching number nine in the US and number forty-one in the UK. Other artists to have performed the song include Big Joe Turner, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley & His Comets, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell. The version by Bob Dylan was re-arranged to mix with Robert Johnson’s 1937 song “Stones in My Passaway” and released on his 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.



Ray Peterson - Corrina, Corrina (1960)

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Lyrics:

I love Corrina,
Tell the world I do
I love Corrina
Tell the world I do
I pray every night
She'll learn to love me, too

Corrina, Corrina
Corrina, Corrina
Corrina, Corrina
I love you so

Oh, little darling
Where you been so long?
Oh, little darlin’
Where you been so long?
I ain’t had no loving
Since you been gone

Corrina, Corrina
Corrina, Corrina
Corrina, Corrina
I love you so

I left Corrina
Way across the sea, oh me
I left Corrina
Way across the sea
If you see Corrina
Send her home to me

Corrina, Corrina
Corrina, Corrina
Corrina, Corrina
I love you so

Corrina, Corrina
Corrina, Corrina
Corrina, Corrina
I love you so

Oh, darling, don't you know
I love you so?
Darling, don't you know?