Don't Let Me Cross Over

"Don't Let Me Cross Over"
Single by Carl Butler and Pearl
from the album Don't Let Me Cross Over
B-side	"Wonder Drug"
Released	November 1962 (U.S.)
Format	7"
Recorded	February 26, 1962
Genre	Country
Length	2:51
Label	Columbia 42953
Writer(s)	Penny Jay
Carl Butler and Pearl singles chronology
"Don't Let Me Cross Over" (1962) "Loving Arms" (1963)

"Don't Let Me Cross Over" is a song made famous as a duet by Carl Butler and Pearl, a husband-and-wife country music duo. Originally released in November 1962, the song needed just four weeks to reach the number-one spot on the Billboard Country Singles chart. The song eventually spent 11 (non-consecutive) weeks at number one, and has become a country-music standard.

Honky-tonk singer Carl Butler is best remembered for "Don't Let Me Cross Over," which Allmusic writer Jim Worbois described as a "country heartbreak song." The song was one of several in which Butler's wife, Pearl, joins him on harmony.^[1]

Deborah Allen and Jim Reeves recorded a cover in 1979, reaching number ten on the country chart. In 1996, Dolly Parton, who'd worked with the Butlers early in her career, covered "Don't Let Me Cross Over".

It was later covered in December 1969 By Irish Country singer Larry Cunningham, and peaked #4 at the Irish charts.

Chart performance

Carl Butler and Pearl

Chart (1962–1963)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	88

Preceded by "Mama Sang a Song" by Bill Anderson "Ruby Ann" by Marty Robbins "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs

Billboard Hot Country Singles number-one single December 29, 1962 January 12, 1963 January 26, 1963 February 16–April 6, 1963

Succeeded by "Ruby Ann" by Marty Robbins "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs "Still" by Bill Anderson

Jerry Lee Lewis and Linda Gail Lewis

Chart (1969)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	9

Deborah Allen and Jim Reeves

Chart (1979)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	10

Sources

1. ^ [1] Worbois, Jim, Don't Let Me Cross Over at Allmusic.

Other references

• Whitburn, Joel, Top Country Songs: 1944-2005, 2006.