100 years ago: Byron Harlan hit #1 with “School Days”

School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids) Byron G. Harlan

Writer(s): Gus Edwards (m), Will Cobb (w) (see lyrics here) First Charted: May 11, 1907 Peak: 111 US, 15 GA, 19 SM (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.0 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: In the early 1900s, sentimental ballads were popular and songs like “Shine on, Harvest Moon,” “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree,” and “School Days” “exemplified this musical style.” WHC These songs dominated sheet music sales, as they “could be sung in the parlor at home around the family piano.” WHC It “remains a singalong favorite.” DJ The song was introduced by its composer, Gus Edwards, in vaudeville’s School Boys and Girls. The show served as a launching pad for budding talent since it featured a number of child stars, such as Eddie Cantor, George Jessel, Groucho Marx, and Georgie Price. TY2 “School Days” was the final song, “sung by the entire company of teachers and children. This was a trip down memory lane for a mature old couple, Nellie and Joe who return to the site of their old school house, see themselves as a couple of kids once more.” SM Edwards, who has been called “the most important songwriter to come out of vaudeville,” PS was born in Germany and came to the United States with his family when he was eight. He used to sneak into theaters and befriend the vaudeville performers. At the encouragement of the legendary George M. Cohan, Edwards began writing songs despite not knowing how to read or write music. His first was 1898’s “All I Want Is My Black Baby Back” and by the time “School Days’ came about, Edwards was a famous songwriter with hits like “In My Merry Oldsmobile.” PS While entertaining troops headed for Cuba to fight in the Spanish American War, he met Will Cobb. The pair collaborated on a long list of hits, PS among them “School Days.” Byron G. Harlan’s recording of “School Days” went to #1 for 11 weeks, making it the top song of 1907, WHC the biggest hit of Harlan’s career, and “the biggest Tin Pan Alley had seen up till that time.” RCG The 3 million in sheet music sales made it one of the top 20 sellers from the first half of the 20th century. PM Albert Campbell took his 1908 recording to #3. Bing Crosby sang it in 1939’s The Star Maker, a film biopic about Edwards. In 1945’s Sunbonnet Sue, Gale Storm and Phil Regan performed the song. PS Resources: Archive.org: download song DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 169. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) PS ParlorSongs.com Lessons in America’s Popular Music History RCG RimChiGuy.com The Old Songs (1900-1929) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Pages 38-9. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954 (1986). Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 634. WHC Joel Whitburn (1999). A Century of Pop Music. Record Research, Inc.: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 5 and 14. Related Links: First posted 5/18/2012; last updated 12/15/2022.

50 years ago: The Everly Brothers “Bye Bye Love” charted

Bye Bye Love The Everly Brothers

Writer(s): Boudleaux Bryant, Felice Bryant (see lyrics here) Released: March 1957 First Charted: May 13, 1957 Peak: 2 US, 3 HP, 11 CB, 11 HR, 17 CW, 5 RB, 6 UK, 2 CN, 14 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 13.0 video, 40.5 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: By 1957, rock and roll had become “ a vehicle for the banal contrivances of camera-friendly faces singing songs about teenage romance.” RY The term “rock and roll” had become a catchphrase for corporate-sponsored teen music with a beat.” RY There were exceptions, however. The Everly Brothers were one of the acts that “brought something new and innovative to their music.” RY They were the first to introduce lead-vocal harmony to the genre. RY The Everlys came from a musical family. Their parents sang country music on the radio and brought the kids up “with the traditional country style of picking and singing.” AC Once Phil and Don Everly graduated from high school, they moved to Nashville and almost immediately were landing gigs in clubs, thanks to their father’s connections.Dad also asked his musician friend Chet Atkins to introduce his boys to Wesley Rose, a publisher, who convinced Archie Blyeyer to sign them to Cadence Records. SS Meanwhile, the writing team of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, who married five days after they met, had more than 80 songs and were seeking a publisher. A musician friend suggested they contact Fred Rose, a new publisher in Nashville. They found some success with a few country and pop hits over more than a decade of writing, SS but really hit gold when Cadence Records bought the song “Bye Bye Love” for the Everly Brothers after more than thirty other artists turned the song down. SS Despite the absence of traditional country instruments such as fiddle or steel guitar, it was “a very country-sounding cut.” AC The Everlys took it to the top of the country charts and #2 on the pop chart. It was the first taste of success for the Everly Brothers, who would go on to have more than thirty more hits. “The unearthly combination of Don and Phil Everly’s voices was so perfect, so pure, that it seemed to emanate from a single source.” RY They also had songs, which – thanks to the Bryants in many cases – were infused “with thoughtful lyrics that spoke to the hearts and minds of teenagers.” RY Resources: AC Ace Collins (1996). The Stories Behind Country Music’s All-Time Greatest 100 Songs. New York, NY; The Berkley Publishing Group. Pages 111-13. RY Thomas Ryan (1996). American Hit Radio: A History of Popular Singles From 1955 to the Present. Prima Publishing: Rocklin, CA. Pages 19-20. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 690-1. Related Links: First posted 8/26/2022.

Avril Lavigne “Girlfriend” hit #1

Girlfriend Avril Lavigne

Writer(s): Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald, Karl Sandberg (Max Martin), Avril Lavigne (see lyrics here) Released: February 27, 2007 First Charted: March 11, 2007 Peak: 11 BB, 11 DG, 11 RR, 13 A40, 2 UK, 14 CN, 16 AU, 11 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 8.0 US, 1.0 UK, 12.38 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.2 radio, 792.79 video, 621.18 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Avril Lavigne was born in Canada in 1984. She “was essentially the small-town Canadian version of a talent-show kid.” SG She signed with Arista Records as a teen. She released her debut album, Let Go, in 2002 and it generated three top-10 hits with “Complicated,” Sk8r Boi,” and “I’m with You.” She came along “right after the teen-pop boom of the late ‘90s, right before the MySpace emo boom of the mid ‘00s.” SG Her “bratty howl came to define a very divisive wave of major-label pop-punk” SG and although she “dressed like a Hot Topic kid, and some of her music had a bit of pop-punk pogo to it” SG she wasn’t punk. “Instead, she was a fully-formed pop star.” SG She “was deep in the major-label system before she adapted the aesthetic signifiers of early-'00s mall-punk.” SG “Girlfriend” is “an obnoxiously insidious hook-monster.” SG “There’s no nuance…It’s just one big, ridiculous chant.” SG It is “big and brash and loud…The song is all booming drums and trebly shouting, and its tiny bursts of melody are almost incidental.” SG “It’s just Avril Lavigne yelling at some dude, telling him that his girlfriend sucks and that he should date Avril Lavigne instead.” SG It “can sound like an anthem” SG but is “also a fundamentally silly song” SG and Avril “sounds like she’s having fun.” SG “It’s got hooks and sass and energy. Its lyrics are simple enough that you can probably sing along by the second time you hear it – not just with the chorus but with the entire song.” SG Avril wrote the song with Dr. Luke and Max Martin, whose resume includes hits by Kelly Clarkson (“Since U Been Gone,” “My Life Would Suck Without You”), Pink (“Who Knew,” “U + Ur Hand”), and Katy Perry (“I Kissed a Girl,” “Hot n Cold”). After “Girlfriend” became a hit, “two members of Berkeley power-poppers the Rubinoos sued…claiming that they’d plagiarized the Rubinoos’ 1979 single ‘I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.’” SG Avril and Dr. Luke denied the charges but settled out of court. Resources: SG Stereogum (3/13/2023). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan Related Links: First posted 1/22/2025.