About The Song
“Dear John” is a country and honky-tonk song written by Aubrey Gass and Tex Ritter and recorded by Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys for MGM Records. Williams cut the track on December 21, 1950 at Castle Studio in the Tulane Hotel, Nashville, with Fred Rose producing. It was released as MGM single K10904 on February 2, 1951, with the slower ballad “Cold, Cold Heart” on the B-side. Classified as country, honky-tonk and blues, the record became a hit in its own right, reaching No. 8 on the Billboard country singles chart in 1951.
The song did not originate with Williams. According to accounts summarized by Colin Escott, Aubrey Gass wrote the piece and first placed it with Jim Boyd, a Dallas-based singer who recorded an earlier version. Tex Ritter later became involved, reportedly securing a share of the writing credit after promising to help get the song cut by a major artist or obtain a contract for Gass. Producer Fred Rose selected the tune for Williams at a time when up-tempo numbers were usually favored as A-sides, initially viewing “Dear John” as the more commercial side and treating “Cold, Cold Heart” as its companion.
In the studio, Williams was backed by his regular Nashville players. Documentation lists Jerry Rivers on fiddle, Don Helms on steel guitar, Sammy Pruett on electric guitar, Chet Atkins on rhythm guitar and either Ernie Newton or Howard “Cedric Rainwater” Watts on bass. Rose kept the arrangement brisk and tightly focused on rhythm guitar, steel and fiddle, aiming at jukebox and radio play. Writers have noted that Williams sounds relaxed at the song’s fast tempo, with the band emphasizing the punchy tag line and leaving space for the crowd-pleasing chorus.
Lyrically, “Dear John” takes the form of a break-up letter sent to a man who is away, a familiar idea in American popular culture at the time. The narrator reads a message in which his former partner matter-of-factly ends the relationship and announces that she is marrying someone else. The famous closing line about sending his saddle home underlines the finality of the decision while keeping the tone rooted in rural imagery. The language is concise and conversational, making it easy for audiences to follow and sing along, especially on the shouted closing phrase.
On its initial release, the single was structured in line with industry expectations: the faster side, “Dear John,” was promoted as the A-side, while “Cold, Cold Heart” occupied the B-side. Chart data show that “Dear John” reached No. 8 on the Billboard country chart during a four-week run, a solid performance that added to Williams’s growing list of Top 10 records. However, radio disc jockeys and jukebox listeners increasingly favored the ballad side, and “Cold, Cold Heart” eventually eclipsed its companion, climbing to No. 1 and becoming one of Williams’s best-known songs.
The release of “Dear John” came during a particularly successful period in Williams’s career. By 1951 he had already scored major country hits with “Lovesick Blues,” “Long Gone Lonesome Blues,” “Why Don’t You Love Me” and “Moanin’ the Blues,” and he was becoming a national figure through touring and radio appearances. The single with “Dear John” and “Cold, Cold Heart” helped maintain this momentum, showing his ability to handle both lively honky-tonk material and more introspective ballads within the same release.
Over time, “Dear John” has remained part of the Hank Williams catalogue, even though it is now often discussed in relation to the more famous song that shared its disc. It appears on various compilations of his 1950–1951 recordings and is regularly cited in biographies and histories as an example of his early-1950s honky-tonk style. The title has also appeared in later cultural references: Tracy Lawrence name-checked the song in his 1996 hit “Time Marches On,” and John Prine recorded a cover for his 1999 album In Spite of Ourselves, helping to keep the composition in circulation for newer audiences.
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Lyric
We got a number here to start things off with
We just uh, put this one on the record, just been released
Anybody care to have it you can purchase it
Called, “Dear John your saddle will be home in the morning” huh
Well when I woke up this mornin’
There was a note upon my door
It said don’t make me no coffee babe
‘Cause I won’t be home no more
And that’s all she wrote (dear John)
I’ve sent your saddle home
Now Jonah got along in the belly of the whale
Daniel in the lion’s den
But I know a man, he didn’t try to get along
And he won’t get a chance again
And that’s all she wrote (dear John)
I’ve sent your saddle home
No, she didn’t forward no address
She didn’t say goodbye
All she said was if you get blue
Just hang your little head and cry
And that’s all she wrote (dear John)
I’ve sent your saddle home
Now my gal’s short and stubby
She’s strong as she can be
And if that little old gal of mine
Ever gets a-hold of me
That’ll be all she wrote (dear John)
I’ve sent your saddle home
Now Jonah got along in the belly of the whale
Daniel in the lion’s den
But I know a man, he didn’t try to get along
And he won’t get a chance again
And that’s all she wrote (dear John)
I’ve sent your saddle home
Now I went down to the bank this morning
The cashier said with a grin
I feel so sorry for you Hank
But your wife has done been in
And that was all she wrote (dear John)
I’ve fetched your saddle home
I’ve sent your saddle home
Sent your saddle home, ain’t got no horse but got the saddle
Got the saddle