Saddest Song Nominee: My Daddy is Only a Picture

Saddest Song Nominee:
My Daddy is Only a Picture by Eddy Arnold

Early cowboy singer and, later, popular crooner Eddy Arnold released My Daddy is Only a Picture in 1948 with words and music by Thomas C. Dilbeck. There's no plot here, just the matter-of-fact explanation of a small boy when asked if his father is at home. (A simple 'no' would have sufficed, laddie). Information on the specific success of this recording is hard to come by (especially without leaving my comfortable chair), but Arnold was huge on the country charts in 1948 (likely the biggest country star that year) and My Daddy is Only a Picture made it at least to the top 5 as part of a phenomenal string of hits totaling 40 weeks at number 1 (country chart) that year! It is quite probably the saddest song ever recorded, and one should overlook the creepier Oedipal overtones of the lyrics. I have three versions below- two recordings and a touching home video of a real-life dad singing part of the song.

Eddy Arnold (1948)

Tex Morton (1949) Interesting yodeling at the end seems a bit out of place.

Home video 2009

Final Verse

I try to cheer up my Mommy,
When the tears run down her face,
My Daddy is only a picture,
but I'm trying to take his place.