100 Years Ago: “How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm” hit #1

How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm After They’ve Seen Paree Nora Bayes

Writer(s): Walter Donaldson (music), Sam Lewis (words), Joy Young (words) (see lyrics here) First Charted: March 15, 1919 Peak: 2 US, 14 GA, 14 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.21 video, 0.02 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Composer Walter Donaldson previously wrote “The Aba Daba Honeymoon” (Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan, #1, 1914) and would work again with lyricists Sam Lewis and Joe Young on “My Mammy” (Paul Whiteman, #1, 1921). Donaldson was a Songwriting Hall of Famer who also wrote “Carolina in the Morning” (Van & Schenck, #1, 1923), “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” (Gene Austin, #1, 1925), “My Blue Heaven” (Gene Austin, #1, 1927), and “Makin’ Whoopee” (Eddie Cantor, #2, 1929). “How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm” was written with a focus on soldiers from rural America and the concer that they “would not want to return to farm life after experiencing the European city life and culture of Paris during the Great War. “ SM It was a hit in vaudeville, being sung by Eddie Cantor, Sophie Tucker, and Nora Bayes. DJ The song hit the charts three times in 1919 with versions by Nora Bayes (#2), Arthur Fields (#7), and Byron G. Harlan (#9). PM The latter two included a verse with a wife assuring her farmer husband that nothing much will have changed. SM Bayes’ version did not include that verse, but it was the biggest hit of the three. She was born Rachel Eleanora “Dora” Goldberg in Chicago, Illinois in 1880 and became a famous singer in vaudeville and then Broadway before marrying singer/songwriter Jack Norworth in 1908. SM They wrote “Shine on, Harvest Moon” which was a #1 hit in 1909 for Harry MacDonough with Miss Walton and Billy Murray with Ada Jones. It was revived in 1942 when Judy Garland sang it in the film For Me and My Gal. Cantor sang it in his own 1953 biopic The Eddie Cantor Story. Pee Wee Hunt and Joe “Fingers” Carr recorded the song in 1956. DJ Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 79. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) SF Songfacts PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 512. Related Links: First posted 3/20/2023.

Today in Music (1918): “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning” hit #1

Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning Arthur Fields

Writer(s): Irving Berlin (music/words) (see lyrics here) First Charted: October 12, 1918 Peak: 14 PM, 3 GA (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.5 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.27 video, 0.14 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Irving Berlin was born in Russia and imgrated to the United States with his family. When World War I broke out, he became an American citizen and, at age 30, was drafted into the army. He said, “I found out quickly…there were a lot of things about army life I didn’t like, and the thing I didn’t like most of all was reveille.” TY2 Berlin “decided to incorporate his hatred of the military life in a song” TY2 and found out lots of soldiers felt just like him. The resulting “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning” was featured in the all-soldier minstrel and vaudeville revue Yip, Yip, Yaphank. Berlin performed the song himself. Several calls are put forth for Sergeant Berlin and when he fails to appear, two soldiers drag him from his tent at which point he launches into the song. TY2 The show was done at the request of his commanding officer who asked Berlin to put on a musical show to raise money for a community house where friends and relatives could visit the soldiers. TY2 Berlin also wrote “God Bless America” at the time but held that song back for later. The ”comic complaining” in “Morning” “appealed not only to the soldiers but also to the country at large.” TY2 The song charted twice in 1918. Arthur Fields hit #1 with the song while Irving Kaufman’s version got to #5. The song was the biggest hit of Fields’ 20 chart entries. He was also a songwriter, most famously penning “Aba Daba Honeymoon.” PM The song was revived in Berlin’s World War II show This Is the Army, which was released as a movie in 1943. The song was also featured in the 1938 musical film Alexander’s Ragtime Band. DJ Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 149. TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Pages 99-100. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 155 and 560. Related Links: First posted 5/14/2025.

 

100 years ago: “The Aba Daba Honeymoon” hit #1

The Aba Daba Honeymoon Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan

Writer(s): Walter Donaldson and Arthur Fields (both: words and music) (see lyrics here) First Charted: October 1, 1914 Peak: 12 US, 20 GA, 12 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.09 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: This bizarre novelty song about a monkey wedding and honeymoon had a surprisingly sturdy shelf life. The song had a similar theme and title to the 1910 song “On a Monkey Honeymoon,” which was “about a bride and groom and he called her his monkey, whereas ‘Aba Daba Honeymoon’ was about a monkey with a long tail and a happy chimpanzee and they were in love, the chimp calling her monkey Monk and the monkey calling his lover chimp, Chimpy. Yet again there was a big baboon who performed the wedding ceremony but this time it really was a baboon.” SMThe listener finds out that the gibberish lyrics translate to the monkee and chimp declaring their love for each other. Ruth Roye introduced the song in 1914 at the Palace Theater in New York. TY2 That same year, Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan had a #1 with the song. The song resurfaced again for the films King of Jazz (1930) and Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe (1945), TY2 but its most significant appearance came in the 1950 film Two Weeks with Love. Debbie Reynolds sang it in the film with Carleton Carpenter and their version was released as a single, reaching #3 in 1951. It was one of several versions of the song to chart in its resurgence more than 25 years after Collins and Harlan first charted with it. There were other versions by Kitty Kallen & Richard Hayes (#9, 1951), Freddy Martin (#12, 1951), Cliff Stewart (#19, 1951), and Hoagy Carmichael with Cass Daley (#23, 1951). PM It resurfaced again in 1960 when Joe “Fingers” Carr and Ira Ironstrings recorded it for their album Together for the Last Time, Volume 1. DJ Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 1. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 67. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 467. Related Links: First posted 2/27/2023.