100 years ago: Billy Murray hits #1 with “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis”

Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis Billy Murray

Writer(s): Arthur B. Sterling, Kerry Mills (see lyrics here) First Charted: July 23, 1904 Peak: 19 US, #12 GA, 14 SM, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: In 1904, the world shone a light on St. Louis. In celebration of the centential of the Louisiana Purchase, the U.S. “Gateway to the West” became the stage for two major parties – the World’s Fair and the third modern Olympic Games. “50 foreign countries and 43 states provided educational and scientific displays, although the majority of the exhibits were based on entertainment.” SM Composer Kerry Mills (“At a Georgia Camp Meeting,” “Red Wing”) and lyricist Andrew Sterling (“Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie,” “When My Baby Smiles at Me”) capitalized on the city’s popularity by penning what what would become the exposition’s theme song. RA According to Mills and Sterling, the idea for the song came when they ordered a drink called a Louis and had it served to them by a bartender named Louis. When Mills ordered another round, shouting out “Another Louie, Louie,” a song idea was born. TY2 They crafted a story of Flossie, a housewife who bolts for the World’s Fair in St. Louis, leaving a note behind for her husband, Louis. RCG He discovers, “The dresses that hung in the hall/ Were gone, she had taken them all/ She took all his rings/ And the rest of his things.” In her note, Flossie says, “We will dance the Hoochie-Koochie/ I will be your Tootsie-Wootsie/ If you will meet me in St. Louis, Louis/ Meet me at the Fair.” In an era when songs when commercial recordings were sometimes held off until sheet music sales proved a song’s worth, “Louis” enjoyed success on both fronts simultaneously. Certainly the timeliness of the event helped, but it also didn’t hurt that it was Billy Murray who crooned the tune. He was “the greatest star of the recording industry’s pioneer recording era.” SS His biographers said, “his greatest talent was casting himself as Everyman in his recordings…Murray [always] managed to come across as a member of the crowd…forging an empathetic bond with the average American citizen.” SS He took the song to #1 in 1904. That same year, S.H. Dudley and J.W. Myers went top 5 with their versions. Songs about famous events were commonplace then, but most had a short life. However, this song found its way into stage revues and “became a vaudeville standard in hundreds of acts.” RCG It was also featured in movies such as The Strawberry Blonde (1941) and By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953). Judy Garland immortalized the song when she performed it for the 1944 movie of the same name and took the song back to the charts, reaching #22. That same year, Guy Lombardo took it to #13. Resources: SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) RA Theodore Raph (1964). The Songs We Sang: A Treasury of American Popular Music. A.S. Barnes and Co., Inc.: New York. Page 295. RCG RimChiGuy.com The Old Songs (1900-1929) SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 434. TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 23. Related Links: Last updated 12/16/2022.

Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying” hit #1 on country chart

Live Like You Were Dying Tim McGraw

Writer(s): Tim Nichols, Craig Wiseman (see lyrics here) Released: June 7, 2004 First Charted: June 5, 2004 Peak: 29 US, 34 RR, 4 AC, 21 A40, 17 CW, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 4.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 44.4 video, 194.26 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Tim McGraw was already a well-established country singer when “Live Like You Were Dying” became the biggest hit of his career. His chart debut came in 1992 and two years later he achieved then-rare crossover appeal when hs songs “Indian Outlaw” and “Don’t Take the Girl” became top-20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. The latter became his first of 19 country chart-toppers leading up to “Dying.” Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman wrote the song based around family and friends who’d gained new perspectives on life after learning they had cancer. The lyrics focus on “experiencing life to its fullest, while also becoming a better person.” WK The song focuses on a man diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and decides to do the things he’d always wanted to do, such as skydiving and mountain climbing. By the end of the song, the singer is following the same example. The song had a personal connection for Tim McGraw. His father, baseball pitcher Tug McGraw, died of a brain tumor on January 5, 2004 – just two weeks before Tim went to Allaire studios in upstate New York to record “Live Like You Were Dying.” SF All Music Guide’s Thom Jurek said this is “the very best kind of modern country song; the emotion in McGraw’s delivery is honest, not saccharine…The lyric itself is sold and beautifully constructed, a perfect marriage of melody, hook, and direct, simple lyrics.” AMG From an awards standpoint, the song can make a claim as the most celebrated in country music history, claiming prizes from the Academy of Country Music (Best Single and Song), Billboard (Country Song of the Year), Broadcast Music Inc. (Country Song of the Year), Country Music Association (Best Single and Song), and the Grammys (Country Song of the Year). Resources: AMG All Music Guide review by Thom Jurek SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/2/2021; last updated 11/13/2023.

100 years ago: “Toyland” hit #1

Toyland Corrine Morgan with the Haydn Quartet

Writer(s): Victor Herbert (music), Glen MacDonough (lyrics) (see lyrics here) First Charted: June 11, 1904 Peak: 12 US, 6 GA (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The 1903 show Babes in Toyland came about because producers Fred Hamlin and Julian Mitchell wanted another children’s fantasy like The Wizard of Oz. Lyricist Glen MacDonough had worked with Mitchell on some revisions for Oz and now worked with composer Victor Herbert to craft another musical. They wove together various Mother Goose nursery rhymes into “a musical extravaganza” WK along with a story about two children and their journey to get to the “fantastic land of the toys.” TY2 The show premiered on June 17, 1903, at the Grand Opera House in Chicago. It opened in New York at the Majestic Theatre (where The Wizard of Oz had played) on October 13, 1903, and ran for 192 performances. WK It became “Herbert’s most lasting operetta” PS and “one of America’s most lasting musical productions.” PS “Of all the music from the show, none…has been as permanent as ‘Toyland.’” PS The “tender and haunting ballad…calls to one’s heart and mind both joyous memories and melancholy nostalgia for days gone by.” PS It was introduced in the original production by Bessie Wynn. In 1904, Corinne Morgan and the Haydn Quartet took the song to #1. It has become a poular song during the Christmas season. The song gained attention in 1934 when revived by Laurel & Hardy in a film version of Babes in Toyland. Disney did a remake of the musical in 1961 and it was revived again in 1986 with a television version starring Drew Barrymore and Keanu Reeves. The latter included only two songs from the original score, but one of them was “Toyland.” An amimated version was released in 1997 that also heavily revised the original show, but again retained “Toyland” as one of the songs. The song has been recorded by many artists over the years including Perry Como, the Manhattan Transfer, Barry Manilow, Johnny Mathis, Don McLean, Jane Morgan, Vaughn Monroe, Leon Redbone, Jo Stafford, and Andy Williams. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Corinne Morgan DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 199. PS ParlorSongs.com SH SecondHandSongs.com TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Pages 24-5. WK Wikipedia page for Babes in Toyland Related Links: First posted 12/13/2022; last updated 12/14/2022.

50 years ago: Elvis Presley recorded “Blue Moon of Kentucky”

Blue Moon of Kentucky Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys

Writer(s): Bill Monroe (see lyrics here) Recorded: September 16, 1946 Released: September 22, 1947 First Charted: -- Peak: -- (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 5.2 video, 6.47 streaming

Blue Moon of Kentucky Elvis Presley

Recorded: July 7, 1954 Released: July 19, 1954 First Charted: -- Peak: 5 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.5 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.17 video, -- streaming

Awards (Monroe): Click on award for more details.

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Awards (Presley): Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Country singer William Smith Monroe was born on 9/13/1911 in Rosine, KY. He grew up playing mandoline and in 1938 at age 27 formed the Blue Grass Boys. They integrated gospel, country, and string band music in a faster style which came to be known as bluegrass – named after the band. TC It has also been described as “a form of country music which combines harmony singing with the banjo and the fiddle.” LW In 1946, they recorded “Blue Grass of Kentucky,” which music historian Steve Sullivan called “the beloved theme song of the Father of Bluegrass.” SS As Monroe said, “it seems every trip we made was from Kentucky to Florida driving back and forth…I always thought about Kentucky and wanted to write a song about the moon we could always see over it. The best way to do this was to bring a girl into the song….I wrote it in the car on the way home from one of those Florida trips.” TC The song was composed in waltz time with the barn dances in mind which Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys often played. LW The recording featured the famed duo of guitarist Lester Flatt and banjoist Earl Scruggs. SS It not only became the state song of Kentucky, but the B-side of Elvis Presley’s first single, “That’s All Right,” recorded at Sun Records. He sped the song up to become “a giddy rockabilly raveup” SS and “one of the first rock & roll songs.” TC Music critic Dave Marsh called it “high lonesome with ants in its pants.” DM He also said that Elvis’ covers of “country standards like this was as audacious as his blues reworkings.” DM He “radically recasts one of the most sacrosanct number in all bluegrass.” DM The song features “gutbucket bass and rocketing guitar solos and that relentless rattling – probably Elvis baning on the body of his guitar ‘like it was the lid of a garbage can,’ as he once described it.” DM Sun Records’ founder Sam Phillips thought if he could market Presley to a country audience, he could make some money. LW However, the country market suffered more than R&B did from the arrival of rock ‘n’ roll. “To admit Elvis to the C&W charts was an acknowledgment that there was an essential vitality missing.” DM Monroe himself liked Elvis’ version enough that he re-recorded it more in the King’s style. SS Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Bill Monroe DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Elvis Presley TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Pages 530-1. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 90. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Pages 397-8. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 606. Related Links: First posted 8/22/2023.