Just Because (You Think You're So Pretty)

DESCRIPTION: "Just because you think you're so pretty, And just because your momma thinks you're hot... You've caused me to spend all my money... Well, I'm telling you, Baby, I'm through with you." When she's lonesome, he won't pay the bills. He won't be Santa Claus
AUTHOR: Sydny Robin, Joe Shelton, Bob Shelton (source: www.lyrics.com)
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Nelstone's Hawaiians)
KEYWORDS: love rejection separation money
FOUND IN:
Roud #17859
RECORDINGS:
Hackberry Ramblers, "Just Because" (Bluebird B6069, 1935)
Fran Hendrickson, "Just Because" (Piotr-Archive #290, recorded 10/07/2022)
Lone Star Cowboys, "Just Because" (Bluebird B6052, 1935; rec. 1933)
Nelstone's Hawaiians, "Just Because" (Victor V40273, 1930; rec. 1929)
Prairie Ramblers, "Just Because" (ARC 5-11-51, 1935)
Shelton Brothers, "Just Because" (Decca 5100, 1935)
NOTES [148 words]: Wow, there were a lot of bitter country musicians in the 1930s....
This song inspired at least two sequels, "Answer to 'Just Because'" and "Just Because #3," by 1940; because it's not always possible to tell which is which, I've cut off the list of 78s with the year 1935, when the first sequel appeared. The song certainly continued to be recorded after that -- by Elvis Presley among others, as well as Les Paul very early in his career.
Edward Foote Gardner, Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Volume I -- Chart Detail & Encyclopedia 1900-1949, Paragon House, 2000, p. 293, estimates that this was the fiftieth most popular song in America in 1948, peaking at #13 in June 1948 (#1 for the year being "My Happiness"); it appears this popularity was due mostly to a recording by Frankie Yankovic.
Despite all those recordings, actual traditional collections seem to be very few. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: DPio290

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography