#3: Date With The Blues by Billy Williams

City: Oshawa, ON
Radio Station: CKLB
Peak Month: July 1957
Peak Position in Oshawa ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Date With The Blues”
Lyrics: “Date With The Blues”

Wilfred “Billy” Williams was born in Waco (TX) in 1911. His dad was a Methodist minister. Growing up, he sang in choirs at churches where his father was the pastor, with his mother often the choir director. He was frequently a soloist, and he also learned to help her arrange music. From the early 1930s, Billy Williams was a member of the Charioteers, a gospel and pop group. With Williams as lead singer from 1935, The Charioteers signed a contract with Decca Records. They had a #23 pop hit in the USA in 1940 titled “So Long”. Williams served in the United States Army during World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He received a medical discharge in 1944. Back from the Army, Williams and the Charioteers had a #9 pop hit backing Frank Sinatra in 1945 titled “Don’t Forget Tonight Tomorrow”. In 1947 The Charioteers version of “Open The Door Richard” climbed to #6 on the pop chart. They equaled their success in 1948 backing Buddy Clark on “Now Is The Hour”.

From 1942 to 1946, Billy Williams and the Charioteers were regulars on shows with Bing Crosby. In 1949, The Charioteers had their seventh Top 20 pop hit with “A Kiss and a Rose”. The single also climbed to #8 on the Billboard R&B chart. Williams left the Charioteers at the end of 1949. He formed a new group, the Billy Williams Quartet, in 1951. Their debut single “(Why Did I Tell You I Was Going To) Shanghai” reached #20 on the Billboard pop chart. In 1953 the quartet moved over to Mercury Records to release “Pour Me A Glass Of Teardrops”, their 3rd of four Top 30 charting singles. The fourth being a cover of the Chords “Sh-Boom”. By 1956, the Billy Williams Quartet was pitching the rockin’ “A Crazy Little Palace (That’s My Home)” to the teens. However, the single stalled at #49 on the Billboard Pop chart. The Billy Williams Quartet also appeared on Sid Caesar’s TV variety program Your Show of Shows as a regular act from 1950 to 1954.

In 1956, Billy Williams began releasing solo records. The first was “Cry Baby”, in February 1956. It made the Top Ten in several radio markets in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Tennessee and Connecticut. “Pray” came after this in March ’56, and was a Top Ten hit in Boston, Rochester (NY) and Sioux Falls (SD). In the fall of 1956, Billy Williams released “Guess I’ll Be On My Way” which was a Top Ten hit in Boston and Claremont (NH). In early 1957 he released a cover of the Charlie Grace (and Andy Williams) tune “Butterfly”. The B-side, “The Pied Piper” reached #50 on the Billboard Pop chart.

However, Williams’ next release “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter” became his biggest hit. His cover of jazz singer Fats Wallers’ original Top 5 version in 1935. Williams recording climbed to #3 on the Billboard pop chart and stayed at number-two for two weeks on the Cashbox Best Selling Singles chart in August ’57.

The B-side to “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter” was “Date With The Blues”.

“Date With The Blues” was cowritten by Hal Gordon and Herman Fairbanks. Hal Gordon wrote songs recorded by Teresa Brewer, Eydie Gorme, Eileen Barton, Gloria Mann, The McGuire Sisters, The Harptones, Faye Adams, Joan Weber, Andy Rose, Carl Perkins, Brook Benton, Connie Francis, Patti Page, Hank Ballard and The Midnight’s, and others. He became the owner of Tornado Records. Herman Fairbanks first found success when the Ink Spots recorded “Shout Brother, Shout” in 1942. His songs were recorded by Woody Herman, Louis Armstrong, Pearl Bailey, Les Brown and His Orchestra, and others.

The lyrics to “Date With The Blues” tell of a guy who describes himself as “the number one fool who loved and lost.” He hangs around his ex-girlfriend’s home night after night, “wearing out my shoes at your front door.” He confesses “I know it’s my fault that we’re apart.” And since she’s closed the door to her heart, he has a steady date with the blues. He begs, “Oh baby, take me back at any cost.”

“Date With The Blues” peaked at #2 in Oshawa (ON).

His next release “Got A Date With An Angel” reached number-one on Toronto’s CFRB in October 1957. However, it stalled at #78 on the Billboard pop chart. “I’ll Get By (As Long as I Have You)”, a big seller for Ruth Etting in 1928, and a number-one hit for Dick Haymes and the Harry James Orchestra in 1944, failed to excite and stalled at #87 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958. He covered the 1922 Vincent Lopez & His Orchestra (#3 hit) “Nola”, which charted to #7 in Ottawa (ON) in early 1959.

His final national chart success on the Billboard Hot 100 was with a cover of the Weavers’ 1950 chart-topper “Goodnight Irene”, which Williams charted to #75 in 1959. Billy Williams last regional hit in 1960 was a cover of the 1938 Artie Shaw pop standard “Begin The Beguine”. By the early 1960s Williams struggled to retain his voice due to complications of diabetes.

In a 1972 obituary in the New York Times, the paper wrote “The Rev. Clarence Cobbs said he found Mr. Williams “down and out” in a hotel seven years ago and brought him to live with him. Mr. Cobb said Mr. Williams had lost his voice because of diabetes and decided to go back to school last year to finish his degree at De Paul University. Then he went to work in the Model Cities program, helping alcoholics. Mr. Cobbs said Mr. Williams had two daughters from two marriages but neither could be located.” Apparently, neither of his daughters attended his funeral. Billy Williams died in 1972 of a heart attack at the age of 61. Yet, the New York Times headline read “Billy Williams, 62, Blues Singer, Dies.” The paper of record got Williams age wrong, he was 61 (born in December 1911 and died in October 1972). As well, Billy Williams fronted The Charioteers, known as a gospel and pop group, not a blues outfit. Though they were African-American, the Charioteers had hardly any records chart on the R&B surveys. The NYT headline is a reminder that you can’t believe everything you read in the papers.

August 8, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Billy Williams, 62, Blues Singer, Dies,” New York Times, October 18, 1972
Frank Sinatra with The Charioteers, “Don’t Forget Tonight Tomorrow“, Columbia Records, 1945.
The Charioteers, “On the Boardwalk (In Atlantic City)“, Columbia Records, 1946.
The Charioteers, “Open The Door Richard“, Columbia Records, 1947.
Billy Williams Quartet, “(Why Did I Tell You I Was Going To) Shanghai“, MGM Records, 1951.

CKLB Oshawa (ON) Top Ten | July 20, 1957