On This Day (1912): “Ragtime Cowboy Joe” hit #1

Ragtime Cowboy Joe Bob Roberts

Writer(s): Grant Clarke (music), Lewis F. Muir and Maurice Abrahams (words) (see lyrics here) First Charted: July 13, 1912 Peak: 16 PM, 12 GA (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.10 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: This is a “ragtime classic” TY2 which was also “a popular western swing song” WK and has become a favorite of barbership quartets. TY2 The music was composed by Grant Clarke, who also wrote “Second Hand Rose.” Lewis F. Muir and Maurice Abrahams wrote the words, inspired by the latter’s nephew wearing a cowboy outfit. WK The opening verse sets the stage with the line “out in Arizona where the bad men are” and the listener learns that Ragtime Cowboy Joy is “the roughest, toughest of these men.” TY2 The song features a loping melody to imitate the gait of a horse. TY2 The song has charted four times over the years. Bob Roberts was first with his chart-topping version in 1912. He was a baritone novelty singer who charted 22 times from 1903 to 1912. “Ragtime Cowboy Joe” was his final chart entry and only #1. The book Pop Memories says “this was the biggest final hit by any recording artist.” PM Other versions followed by Pinky Tomlin (#14 PM, 1939), Eddy Howard (#16 PM, 1947), Jo Stafford (#10 PM, 1949), PM and David Seville & the Chipmunks (#16 BB, 1959) Paul Whiteman recorded the song in 1940. The song has also appeared in the movie musicals Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943) and Incendiary Blonde (1945). In 1978, Jimmy Stewart performed the song on the piano in a surprise cameo on the final Carol Burnett Show. WK It was also used as the theme song for Cowboy Joe’s Radio Ranch, a radio show which ran in New York City from 1976 to 1988. WK It is also the University of Wyoming’s fight song. WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Bob Roberts SF Songfacts TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Pages 58-9. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 371 and 570. WK Wikipedia First posted 9/6/2023.

 

100 years ago: “Shine on, Harvest Moon” hit #1

Shine on, Harvest Moon Harry MacDonough with Miss Walton

Writer(s): Jack Norworth, Nora Bayes (see lyrics here) First Charted: April 10, 1909 Peak: 19 US, 13 GA, 15 SM (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Shine on, Harvest Moon Ada Jones & Billy Murray

First Charted: May 15, 1909 Peak: 15 US, 13 GA (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards (MacDonough): Click on award for more details. Awards (Jones/Murray):

About the Song: Nora Bayes was a Broadway and vaudevillian performer in the early 1900s. In 1908, she married Jack Norworth, a singer, songwriter, and dancer, who also wrote “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” The pair toured and composed together. The duo’s collaboration, “Shine on, Harvest Moon,” “became her musical trademark” TY2 and one of “the most recognized of the many ‘moon’ ballads.” RCG The song is about “a guy begging the harvest moon to shine brightly so he and his girl can ‘stay outdoors and spoon.’” TY2 It was “decidedly old-fashioned and a product of twentieth century innocence.” RCG She sang the song as a solo act SM in Ziegfeld Follies of 1908. The couple didn’t last, divorcing in 1913 (the second of five marriages for Bayes!), SF but the song survived. Both performed it the rest of their lives. RCG It became a favorite for player pianos and barbershop quartets RCG and “remains a perennial among amateur singers everywhere.” DJ-172 It had an impressive chart life with seven takes on the song peaking in the top 20 over the next quarter century. The first, and most successful, was a duet between Harry MacDonough and Miss Walton (believed to be Elise Stevenson) in 1909. They took the song to #1 for 9 weeks. Their version used the verse, chorus, and a second verse while another popular duo version by Ada Jones and Billy Murray did just the first verse and chorus. SM That one also went to #1 while other versions that year, one by the duo of Frank Stanley and Henry Burr, another by Bob Roberts, went to #2 and #6 respectively. The following year, Arthur Pryor also went top 5 with the song. “Harvest Moon” was revived by Ruth Etting in Ziegfeld Follies of 1931. DJ Ethel Waters took the song back to the top ten that same year. Two years later, Kate Smith took the song back to the top 20. Over the years, the song has also been sung by Judy Garland, Vera Lynn, Glenn Miller, and Liza Minnelli. RCG At age 8, Britney Spears sang it for her Mickey Mouse Club audition. WK It has also appeared in at least a dozen films, most notably an eponymously titled 1944 biopic starring Ann Sheridan and Dennis Morgan as Bayes and Norworth. RCG A 1938 Roy Rogers western was named after the song and Laurel & Hardy performed it in their 1939 film The Flying Deuces. It was also used in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), Look for the Silver Lining (1949), Nancy Goes to Rio (1950), I’ll See You in My Dreams (1952), The Eddy Duchin Story (1957), TY2 and Pennies from Heaven (1978). WK Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Elise Stevenson (Miss Walton) DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Nora Bayes DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Jack Norworth Archive.org: download the song DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 172. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) RCG RimChiGuy.com The Old Songs (1900-1929) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 44. Related Links: First posted 4/10/2012; last updated 12/15/2022.