| Vaya con Dios | |
| Cover: | Vaya Con Dios 45 Capitol Les Paul Mary Ford.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Les Paul and Mary Ford |
| B-Side: | Johnny (Is the Boy for Me) |
| Released: | June 1953 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Length: | 2:50 |
| Label: | Capitol |
| Prev Title: | Sleep |
| Prev Year: | 1953 |
| Next Title: | Johnny |
| Next Year: | 1953 |
"Vaya con Dios (May God Be With You)" (pronounced as /es/, literally "Go with God") is a popular song written by Larry Russell, Inez James, and Buddy Pepper, and first recorded by Anita O'Day in December 1952. Les Paul and Mary Ford had a 1 recording of the song in 1953. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[1] [2]
The most-popular version of the song was recorded by Les Paul and Mary Ford. This recording was released by Capitol Records as catalog number 2486 with "Johnny (Is the Boy For Me)" as the flip side in May 1953.[3] It first reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on June 13, 1953 and lasted 31 weeks on the chart, reaching number one on August 8 and remaining at number one for a total of 11 non-consecutive weeks.[4] The song also reached number one on the Cash Box chart where it remained at No. 1 for five weeks.[5] The song was ranked the No. 1 top tune of 1953,[6] and the second best selling song of the year.[7]
The Les Paul and Mary Ford single reached No. 7 in the UK backed with the Les Paul instrumental composition "Deep in the Blues" as the flip side.
In 2005, the 1953 Les Paul and Mary Ford recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The song has been recorded by: