"I Love You Because" is a 1949 song written and originally recorded by Leon Payne

Leon Payne

Leon Payne , "the Blind Balladeer", was a country music singer and songwriter.-Life:Leon Roger Payne was born in Alba, Texas on June 15, 1917. He was blind in one eye at birth, and lost the sight of the other eye in early childhood. He attended the Texas School for the Blind from 1924 to 1935,...

. The single went to number four on the Billboard Country & Western Best Seller lists and spent two weeks at number one on the Country & Western Disk Jockey List, spending a total of thirty-two weeks on the chart. "I Love You Because" was Payne's only song to make the country charts.

Cover versions

"I Love You Because" has been covered by several artists throughout the years:

• In 1950, Ernest Tubb
  Ernest Tubb
  Ernest Dale Tubb , nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" , marked the rise of the honky tonk style of music...
  
   (No. 2) and Clyde Moody
  Clyde Moody
  Clyde Moody , also known as the "Hillbilly Waltz King" and sometimes as "The Genial Gentleman of Country Music" was one the great founders of American Bluegrass music....
  
   each recorded their own version both making the Top 10 on the Country & Western charts.
• Elvis Presley
  Elvis Presley
  Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
  
  
• Hank Locklin
  Hank Locklin
  Lawrence Hankins Locklin , better known as Hank Locklin, was an American country music singer-songwriter...
  
  
• Johnny Cash
  Johnny Cash
  John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
  
   (No. 20 in 1960)
• Matt Monro
  Matt Monro
  Matt Monro was an English singer who became one of the most popular entertainers on the international music scene during the 1960s...
  
  
• Carl Smith
  Carl Smith (country musician)
  Carl Milton Smith was an American country music singer. Known as "Mister Country," Smith was the husband of June Carter and Goldie Hill, the drinking companion of Johnny Cash, and the father of Carlene Carter...
  
   (No. 14 in 1969)
• Slim Whitman
  Slim Whitman
  Ottis Dewey Whitman, Jr. , known professionally as Slim Whitman, is an American country music singer and songwriter, known for his yodelling abilities. He has sold in excess of 120 million albums in unit sales and has had numerous successful recordings...
  
  
• Jerry Lee Lewis
  Jerry Lee Lewis
  Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
  
  
• George Jones
  George Jones
  George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
  
  
• Willie Nelson
  Willie Nelson
  Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
  
  
• Jean Shepard
  Jean Shepard
  Ollie Imogene Shepard , better known as Jean Shepard, is an American honky tonk singer-songwriter who was a pioneer for women in country music. Shepard released a total of 73 singles to the Hot Country Songs chart, one of which reached the #1 spot...
  
  
• Ray Price
  Ray Price (musician)
  Ray Price is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone has often been praised as among the best male voices of country music...
  
  

• In 1963, Al Martino
  Al Martino
  Al Martino was an American singer and actor. He had his greatest success as a singer between the early 1950s and mid 1970s, being described as "one of the great Italian American pop crooners", and also became well known as an actor, particularly for his role as singer Johnny Fontane in The...
  
   recorded the most successful version of the song peaking at number three on the Hot 100 and number one on the Middle-Road (or Easy Listening) chart for two weeks in May that year.
• In 1964, Jim Reeves
  Jim Reeves
  James Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound...
  
   took the song to number five in the UK. In 1976, the song was the title track of a posthumous Jim Reeves album, which peaked at number 24 on the US Country chart. The single version reached number 54 in the US that year.
• In 1983, Roger Whittaker
  Roger Whittaker
  Roger Whittaker is an Anglo-Kenyan singer-songwriter and musician with worldwide record sales of over 55 million. His music can be described as easy listening. He is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability...
  
  got the song "into the lower reaches of the country chart."

Jim Reeves

Chart (1964)	Peak position
Norway Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	5