 MGM released " Lovesick Blues " on February 11 , 1949 , coupling it with " Never Again ( Will I Knock On Your Door ) " . The single sold 50 @,@ 000 copies in the first two weeks . On its February 26 , 1949 review , Billboard opined : " Hank 's <unk> @-@ mah @-@ <unk> approach and ear @-@ catching yodeling should keep this side spinning " . Based on votes sent to Billboard , the record was rated with 85 points by disc jockeys , 82 by record dealers and 85 by jukebox operators . Between the three , the track scored an overall of 84 . In reference to its 100 @-@ point scale , Billboard regarded the record as " Excellent " . It reached number one on Billboard 's Top C & W singles , where it remained for sixteen weeks and reached number twenty @-@ four on Most Played in Jukeboxes . The magazine listed it as the " number one country and western record of 1949 " while Cashbox named it " Best Hillbilly record of the year " . In March 1949 , Wesley Rose requested Williams to send him the records by Griffin and Miller to prove that the song was in the public domain . Irving Mills , the original lyricist , sued Acuff @-@ Rose . The suit was settled on November 1 , 1949 and it was agreed that Mills and Acuff @-@ Rose would share the publishing of Williams ' recording . Mills retained the rest of rights to the song as he had also purchased Friend 's rights during the Great Depression . 
