About The Song
In December 1986, Ray Price released his version of “No One Will Ever Know” as part of the album *The Heart of Country Music* on Step One Records. At that point in his career, the Texas-born singer, known as the Cherokee Cowboy, was deliberately returning to the straightforward, traditional country style that had defined his early success. The recording captured Price’s warm, mature baritone delivering a song that had already become a staple among country artists, fitting neatly into a collection of standards that reflected his roots after years of experimenting with smoother, crossover sounds.
Price had built his reputation in the 1950s with major hits such as “Crazy Arms,” which introduced the distinctive shuffle rhythm that filled dance halls across the South. Following Hank Williams’ death in 1953, Price took over leadership of the Drifting Cowboys, carrying forward the raw emotional delivery that Williams had made famous. By the 1960s and 1970s he scored further successes with tracks like “Release Me” and the Kris Kristofferson-penned “For the Good Times,” but the mid-1980s found him seeking the honest, unadorned sound of classic country once again through his association with the independent Step One label.
The song itself was written in the 1940s by Mel Foree and Fred Rose. Rose, a central figure in the rise of Nashville as a music center, co-founded Acuff-Rose Publishing and played a key role in shaping Hank Williams’ career as both publisher and collaborator. The track received its first recording by Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys on August 2, 1945, establishing it as an early example of the heartfelt ballad style that would come to define much of postwar country music.
At its core, “No One Will Ever Know” is a quiet portrait of concealed heartbreak. The narrator admits to crying alone at night and missing a lost love deeply, yet he keeps a composed face in public, insisting that the full extent of his pain will remain hidden. The lyrics emphasize restraint and dignity in the face of sorrow, themes that resonated strongly in traditional country storytelling where personal hardship was often endured without outward complaint.
Price’s interpretation arrived more than four decades after the original release, giving the song the weight of experience. His version was not issued as a single and therefore did not appear on Billboard charts, but it formed part of a deliberate effort to honor the genre’s foundational material at a time when country radio was shifting toward more contemporary production. The album allowed Price to revisit the kind of material that had first drawn audiences to his voice in the years after World War II.
Over the years the song has been recorded by numerous artists, including Hank Williams, Dottie West, and Ronnie Milsap. Gene Watson’s 1980 rendition, which titled his Capitol album, reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and brought renewed attention to the track. Through these various interpretations, “No One Will Ever Know” has endured as a concise expression of private grief set against the stoic backdrop of classic country.
Video
Lyric
No one will ever know my heart is breaking
Although a million tears start to flow
I’ll cry myself to sleep and wake up smiling
I’ll miss you, but no one will ever knowI’ll tell them we grew tired of each other
And realize our dreams could never be
I’ll even make believe I never loved you
Then no one will ever know the truth but meNo one will ever know how much I’m pining
Each time the past comes back to haunt me so
No one will ever see the tears I’m hiding
You’ve hurt me, but no one will ever knowI’ll tell them I’ve found true love with another
That I was glad the day you set me free
I’ll even make believe I never loved you
Then no one will ever know the truth, but me