A Little Bitty Tear
Burl Ives
1962
Earliest retained annual association for this catalog identity; original release year not independently established.
Release year not established
Release year not establishedDate review open
A first-release date was not established in the available metadata.
The large badge identifies this listening list, not a newly issued recording. Later reissues and renewed chart popularity do not replace an original release date. How years are assigned.
About Burl Ives
Song-specific inspiration or recording background is not established for this entry. This sourced artist profile provides career context.
Burl Ives was an American singer and actor whose clear tenor carried traditional folk songs into radio, records, theatre and film. Raised in southern Illinois, he learned ballads from his family and later worked with Alan Lomax on radio programs. His Wayfaring Stranger recordings drew on that traditional repertoire. Country songs including A Little Bitty Tear broadened his recording career, while his narration as Sam the Snowman in the 1964 television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer connected his voice with seasonal listening.
Artist background sources
Burl Ives - Association for Cultural Equity biography
Family folk-song background, tenor performance style, Lomax radio work, Wayfaring Stranger repertoire, later country material and the 1964 Rudolph narration. The profile does not adopt the essay's evaluative language or chart-superlative claims. | Retrieved 2026-10-17
Profile reviewed: 2026-10-17. Artist background does not establish a song's creative origin or release date.
Retained annual-list context
A Little Bitty Tear by Burl Ives appears at number 46 in the reviewed U.S. year-end table for 1962. No reliable song-specific account of its inspiration was established in this review.
Annual-list context only; songwriting inspiration remains unestablished
Billboard year-end 1962 table (Wikipedia transcription)
Secondary transcription reviewed 2026-10-11: title, artist and annual chart association; not original release date or complete recording metadata.
Other appearances and versions
catalog version unspecified
Original release date and exact pressing/version are not independently established.
An annual chart year and an original release date are different. Similar titles may be covers or different masters; no audio fingerprint has been performed.
Sources and scope
Source-backed annual association (secondary source; not a complete discographic review)
Editorial artist-repertoire classification
Billboard year-end 1962 table (Wikipedia transcription)
Secondary transcription reviewed 2026-10-11: title, artist and annual chart association; not original release date or complete recording metadata.
Browse by year
1960-2025. Each year contains 150 selections.