Lyr Req: Have I Told You Lately (That I Love You)?

Subject: Have I Told You Lately?
From: Inukshuk
Date: 06 Jan 01 - 10:34 AM

I just can't believe that I have forgotten the words to one of the first songs I ever learned. Only about half of them left! It's a Gene Autry song. Elvis did it too. "Have I told you lately that I love you, etc. etc." Please help me regain my memory.

Subject: Lyr Add: HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY (from Lula Belle..
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 06 Jan 01 - 11:00 AM

Hi Inukshuk--

Great old country song. I'll post the lyrics here--but they're from the Digitrad. If you haven't had a chance to check out the database yet (upper left-hand corner of the Mudcat Forum page), you're in for a treat--prepare to be lost in lyrics for several days!

Lin

HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY
(Lula Belle & Scotty)

Have I told you lately that I love you
Could I tell you once again somehow
Have I said with all my heart and soul that I adore you
Well, darling, I'm telling you now.

My heart would break in two
If you refuse me
I'm no good without you anyhow
The world would end today if I should lose you
Well, darling, I'm telling you now.

Have I told you lately how I miss you
When the stars are shining in the sky
Have I told you how the nights are long
When I'm not with you
Oh, darling, I'm telling you now.
Copyright Scotty Sky)

Subject: RE: Have I Told You Lately?
From: John Hardly
Date: 06 Jan 01 - 11:09 AM

Any of you within listening distance of WOWO in Ft Wayne? For decades every Sunday morning Sam DeVincent, Nancy Lee and the Hilltoppers, et al carried on a one-of-a-kind radio show. Hardly a Sunday passed without them playing a Lula Bell and Scotty tune. Sam's sheet music collection is now in the Smithsonian--what a fine gentleman!

JH

Subject: RE: Have I Told You Lately?
From: DougR
Date: 06 Jan 01 - 12:30 PM

Tex Ritter had a great recording of this one too!

DougR

Subject: RE: Have I Told You Lately?
From: Inukshuk
Date: 06 Jan 01 - 12:40 PM

Thank you friends. My memory is now completely restored, and my heart is filled with joy. Now I remember that the second chorus sometimes went: "This world would end, without a mem'ry of you, I'm no good etc."

Subject: Lyr Add: HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY (from Gene Autry)
From: GUEST,Gene
Date: 06 Jan 01 - 06:43 PM

HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY (That I Love You)
As recorded by: Gene Autry
Writers: Scotty Stoneman (& Gene Autry)

Have I told you lately that I love you
Could I tell you once again somehow
Have I said with all my heart and soul
-how I adore you
Well, darlin', I'm telling you now.

My world would end without a mem'ry of you
I'm no good without you anyhow
Oh, have I told you lately that I love you
My, darlin', I'm telling you now.

Have I told you lately how I miss you
When the stars are shining in the sky
Have I told you why the nights are long
-when you're not with me
Well, darlin', I'm telling you now.

Have I told you lately when I'm sleeping
Ev'ry dream, I dream of you somehow
Have I told you that I'd like to
-share your love forever
Well, darlin' I'm telling you now.

My world would end without a mem'ry of you
I'm no good without you anyhow
Oh, have I told you lately that I love you
Oh, darlin', I'm telling you now.

Note.
I was surprised to see Gene Autry listed as
co-writer on this song on the LP,
having read the story of how Scotty had written it.

Apparently it was a custom in the past for a
well-known singer to get co-writer credit for
recording a song and also to change a line or verse
and get co-writer credit for that recording only.

Subject: Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Jan 01 - 09:37 PM

Usually, it's not a good practice to re-post lyrics that are already in the Digital Tradition. The suggested practice is to provide a link or to tell people how to search the database (after making sure the song actually is in the database). There are times when I question that policy, because posting the lyrics can generate a nice discussion, like this on.
Gene's comment spurred me to look up the history of the song in Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy (Dorothy Horstman, 1996).
Here's what songwriter Scott Wiseman says about the song, which he wrote in 1945:

I was a patient in Wesley Memorial Hospital in Chicago for several weeks in 1944. My wife, Lulu Belle, was visiting me one afternoon and whispered to me before she left, `Have I told you lately that I love you?' As I lay there thinking tender thoughts about her, it occurred to me that this would be a good title for a song. I got paper and pencil and wrote the first verse and chorus down that afternoon. When Lu came the next day, I sang it to her. She said, `That's pretty good.' A friend of mine took a copy to Gene Autry in Hollywood. He made the first recording. Lu and I still get a thrill when we hear it done by so many fine artists, and it paid for our retirement home in the hills of North Carolina. It has sold approximately 10 million records here and abroad.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Have I Told You Lately?
From: Gypsy
Date: 06 Jan 01 - 11:18 PM

creep, creep, creep. Another advantage to posting the lyrics, even when in the database, is that people who would never have looked before, suddenly see them. I find the nicest songs by people asking for them!

Subject: RE: Have I Told You Lately?
From: Inukshuk
Date: 07 Jan 01 - 10:15 AM

Whoopee! Now I have a full compliment of words to this song and a great story to introduce it with. Also, I have finally mastered the art of doing a proper search (I had never read down as far as the square brackets trick before.) It would be good to see the longer set of lyrics, as provided by Gene, in the DigiTrad. Can that be arranged? AGAIN, THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH.