Songs come from many different sources and situations.  The 1940’ song, “No One Will Ever Know” was written while the co-writer  Mel Foree was serving on guard duty in the U.S. Navy.

According to Foree, “Fred Rose was in New York City on business and he invited me to join him. I was in the Navy at the time, but managed to get a three day pass. One afternoon while we were walking down Broadway, Fred told me about an idea for a song he had in mind and asked me if I try my hand at working on it. I told him that I would work on the idea and he told me to just “cry my heart out in the lyrics.”

We ended our visit and I returned to base and as soon as I got back, I was assigned to guard duty. While I was walking back and forth on the post, I started thinking about the idea that Fred had given me and I wrote the lyrics to “No One Will Ever Know” that night. A few days later, I finished a lead sheet and mailed it to Fred Rose. He made a few changes and played the song to Roy Acuff.  Roy liked the song immediately and recorded it in 1945.”

Frank Ifield recorded the song in 1966 and it peaked at # 42. Gene Watson scored a # 13 hit on “No One Will Ever Know” in 1980.

Doug Davis
Country Music Classics