Answer Me, My Love


"Answer Me, My Love" is a popular song, originally titled "Mütterlein" with German lyrics, by Gerhard Winkler and Fred Rauch. The English lyrics were written by Carl Sigman in 1953.
Sigman originally wrote it as a religious-themed song, "Answer Me", as a question posed to God about why the singer has lost his lover. This version of the song became a joint number 1 hit for both Frankie Laine and David Whitfield in the United Kingdom in November 1953, the only time in UK chart history that two versions of the same song tied at the top. However, the BBC banned the song because of its "religious" lyrics, and Sigman rewrote them to address the lost lover directly, under the title "Answer Me, My Love". Whitfield then re-recorded the number with the new lyrics so as to get BBC air-plays. Both his versions have appeared on CD. Laine went back into the studios of Columbia Records and recorded "Answer Me, My Love", which was released in the UK but failed to overtake the original; many considered that this was due to the poor quality of the backing which lacked the "atmosphere" of the original Paul Weston arrangement.
The best-selling version of the song was recorded by Nat King Cole in 1954. The recording was released by Capitol Records as catalog number 2687. The record first reached the Billboard Best Seller chart on February 24, 1954, and lasted 19 weeks on the chart, peaking at number 6.
Barbara Dickson's 1976 cover version became her first UK Top Ten hit, peaking at #9.
The song was performed in concert by Bob Dylan in the early 1990s.
In 2000, it was performed by Joni Mitchell on her album Both Sides Now.
The song is in the Keith Jarrett live repertoire; he has performed it at least 15 times with his trio and solo from 2010 onwards.

Recorded versions

German versions