"It's a Sin to Tell a Lie" is a 1936 popular

Popular music

Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

 song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 by Billy Mayhew. Originally introduced by Fats Waller

Fats Waller

Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...

 on the 78 rpm record Victor 20-1595, it was revived in 1955

1955 in music

-Events:*January 1 – RCA Victor announces a marketing plan called "Operation TNT." The label drops the list price on LPs from $5.95 to $3.98, EPs from $4.95 to $2.98, 45 EPs from $1.58 to $1.49 and 45's from $1.16 to $.89...

 by Somethin' Smith and the Redheads

Somethin' Smith and the Redheads

Somethin' Smith and the Redheads were an American vocal group doing mostly pop standards in the 1950s. Their biggest hit single was "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie" in 1955, which reached #7 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart....

, reaching #7 on the Billboard charts

Billboard charts

The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...

 in that year. John Denver

John Denver

Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...

 tells a story about the song and does a cover in his 1978 album, Live at the Sydney Opera House (RCA Victor VPL1-7167). Other artists who have recorded versions include Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

, The Ink Spots

The Ink Spots

The Ink Spots were a popular vocal group in the 1930s and 1940s that helped define the musical genre that led to rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and the subgenre doo-wop...

, Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....

, Bobbi Martin

Bobbi Martin

Bobbi Martin was an American country and pop music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She grew up and began her singing career in Baltimore, working her way up from local venues onto the national nightclub circuit. She died at the age of 56 at the Brighton Wood Knoll medical facility in Baltimore...

, Gerry Monroe

Gerry Monroe

Gerry Monroe was an English pop singer, who enjoyed brief popularity in the early 1970s.His real name was Henry Morris and he was born on 20th January 1933 in Windy Nook, Gateshead. He scored five Top 40 hits on the UK Singles Chart in 1970-71...

, Brent Spiner

Brent Spiner

Brent Jay Spiner is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of the android Lieutenant Commander Data in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and four subsequent films. His portrayal of Data in Star Trek: First Contact and of Dr...

, Lenny Breau

Lenny Breau

Leonard Harold "Lenny" Breau was a musician, guitar player, and music educator. He was known for blending many styles of music including: jazz, country, classical and flamenco guitar...

, Buddy Greco

Buddy Greco

-Biography:He was born Armando Greco in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Greco began playing piano at the age of four. His first professional work was playing with Benny Goodman's band. Most of Greco's work has been in the jazz and pop genres...

, Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman was an American folk music singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. The writer of "City of New Orleans", made popular by Arlo Guthrie, Goodman won two Grammy Awards.-Personal life:...

, Ann Breen, Slim Whitman, Jerry Murad and the Harmonicats, Bobby Vinton, Patti Page, and Vera Lynn

Vera Lynn

Dame Vera Lynn, DBE is an English singer-songwriter and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during World War II. During the war she toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops...

.

Originally a waltz, during the British Dixieland Revival in the 50's and 60's this melody was often played in fast four/four tempo,notably recorded by the Kenny Ball Band.

A version of it by the Ink Spots appears in Obsidian's 2010 role-playing game Fallout New Vegas.