A White Sport Coat
"A White Sport Coat" is a 1957 country and western song with words and music both written by Marty Robbins. It was recorded on January 25, 1957, and released on the Columbia Records label, over a month later, on March 4. The arranger and recording session conductor was Ray Conniff, an in-house conductor/arranger at Columbia. Robbins had demanded to have Conniff oversee the recording after his earlier hit, "Singing the Blues", had been quickly eclipsed on the charts by Guy Mitchell's cover version, which was scored and conducted by Conniff in October 1956 . Robbins recalled writing "A White Sport Coat" in approximately twenty minutes, while being transported in a standard automobile. He is said to have had the inspiration for the song while driving from a motel to a venue in Ohio, where he was due to perform that evening. During the course of the journey, he passed a local high school, where its students were dressed ready for their prom. In the song, the narrator was hoping to go to prom with a certain girl to dance, wearing a white sport coat and a pink carnation. However, the girl decided to go  to the prom with another guy, resulting in the narrator being in a blue mood. The song reached no. 1 on the US country chart, becoming Marty Robbins' third No. 1 record. It reached no. 2 on the "Billboard" pop chart, and no. 1 in the Australian music charts.