Showing posts with label Byron Harlan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Byron Harlan. Show all posts

Monday, October 2, 2023

Vaudeville: Top 100 Songs

Vaudeville:

Top 100 Songs

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre which emerged in France at the end of the 19th century. They were generally comedies interspersed with songs. The format was popular in the United States from the early 1880s through the early 1930s, but became more of a series of separate acts grouped together on a bill. They could be comprised of singers, dancers, comedians, one-act plays, and circus acts.

This effort to put together a list of the top vaudeville songs of all time is based on only a handful of sources (see the bottom of the page). As such, someone with actual expertise on vaudeville may quibble with songs on this list and I welcome their input and hope they can turn me on to more sources. As it is, I took the songs referenced in the sources below and listed them here based on their overall status in Dave’s Music Database.

It should be noted that the versions listed here which ever ranked highest in Dave’s Music Database although many of these songs were introduced on vaudeville by different performers than those who had hit recordings with them.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Arthur Collins with Bryon G. Harlan “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1911)
2. Al Jolson “Swanee” (1920)
3. Billy Murray & the Haydn Quartet “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (1908)
4. Billy Murray “You’re a Grand Old Flag (aka “The Grand Old Rag”)” (1906)
5. Al Jolson “April Showers” (1922)
6. Haydn Quartet “Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart)” (1904)
7. Billy Murray “Give My Regards to Broadway” (1905)
8. American Quartet “Moonlight Bay” (1912)
9. Harry MacDonough with Elise Stevenson (as Miss Walton) “Shine on, Harvest Moon” (1909)
10. Billy Murray with the Haydn Quartet “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” (1910)

11. Arthur Collins “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home” (1902)
12. Billy Murray “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis” (1904)
13. Bryon G. Harlan “School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids)” (1907)
14. Sophie Tucker “Some of These Days” (1911)
15. Marion Harris “After You’ve Gone” (1919)
16. Billy Murray “Yankee Doodle Boy” (1905)
17. Arthur Collins with Bryon G. Harlan “Darktown Strutters’ Ball” (1918)
18. Al Jolson “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody” (1918)
19. American Quartet with Billy Murray “Casey Jones” (1910)
20. Bryon G. Harlan “My Gal Sal” (1907)

21. Harry MacDonough “Down by the Old Mill Stream” (1911)
22. Henry Burr “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now” (1909)
23. Bryon G. Harlan “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie” (1906)
24. Haydn Quartet “Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet” (1909)
25. George J. Gaskin “After the Ball” (1893)
26. Van & Schenk “For Me and My Gal” (1917)
27. Gene Austin “My Melancholy Baby” (1928)
28. Gene Austin “Bye Bye Blackbird” (1926)
29. Henry Burr (as Irving Gillette) “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree” (1905)
30. Louis Armstrong “All of Me” (1932)

31. Billy Jones “Yes! We Have No Bananas” (1923)
32. Knickerbocker Quartet “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile” (1917)
33. Heidelberg Quintet “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee” (1912)
34. Prince’s Orchestra “Ballin’ the Jack” (1914)
35. Peerless Quartet “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier” (1915)
36. Eddie Cantor “If You Knew Susie Like I Knew Susie” (1925)
37. Paul Whiteman “My Mammy” (1921)
38. Heidelberg Quintet “By the Beautiful Sea” (1914)
39. Wendell Hall “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’” (1924)
40. Charles Harrison “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” (1918)

41. Paul Whiteman “The Japanese Sandman” (1920)
42. Victor Military Band “Poor Butterfly” (1917)
43. John Steel “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody” (1919)
44. Bert Williams “Nobody” (1906)
45. J.W. Myers “On a Sunday Afternoon” (1902)
46. Ada Jones with Billy Murray & the American Quartet “Come, Josephine, in My Flying Machine” (1911)
47. Henry Burr “M-O-T-H-E-R (A Word That Means the World to Me)” (1916)
48. Arthur Collins “Hello Ma Baby” (1899)
49. Henry Burr “My Buddy” (1922)
50. Elsie Baker (aka “Edna Brown”) “I Love You Truly” (1912)

51. Fanny Brice with the Rosario Bourdon Orchestra “My Man (Mon Homme)” (1922)
52. Jan Garber with Benny Davis “Baby Face” (1926)
53. Ray Miller “The Sheik of Araby” (1921)
54. Ted Lewis “All by Myself” (1921)
55. Ted Lewis “When My Baby Smiles at Me” (1920)
56. Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “Put Your Arms Around Me, Honey (I Never Knew Any Girl Like You)” (1911)
57. Paul Whiteman “Wang Wang Blues” (1920)
58. Billy Murray “Pretty Baby” (1916)
59. Ed Gallagher & Al Shean “Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean” (1922)
60. Fanny Brice with the Rosario Bourdon Orchestra “Second Hand Rose” (1922)

61. Arthur Collins “Under the Bamboo Tree” (1902)
62. Nora Bayes “How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm After They’ve Seen Paree?” (1919)
63. Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “Down Where the Wurzburger Flows” (1919)
64. Bob Roberts “Ragtime Cowboy Joe” (1912)
65. Charles Harrison “I’ll Be with You in Apple Blossom Time” (1920)
66. Paul Whiteman with the Rhythm Boys “Side by Side” (1927)
67. Richard Jose “Silver Threads Among the Gold” (1904)
68. Bryon G. Harlan & Frank Stanley “Blue Bell” (1904)
69. Benny Krueger “I Cried for You” (1923)
70. Prince’s Orchestra “The Memphis Blues” (1914)

71. Paul Whiteman “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” (1923)
72. Peerless Quartet “I Want a Girl Just Like the Girl Who Married Dear Old Dad” (1911)
73. George Alexander “Mighty Like a Rose (aka “Mighty Lak a Rose”)” (1903)
74. Peerless Quartet “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans” (1922)
75. Ben Pollack & Franklyn Baur “Sweet Sue, Just You” (1928)
76. Bert Williams “Play That Barber-Shop Chord” (1910)
77. Henry Burr & Arthur Campbell “The Trail of the Lonesome Pine” (1913)
78. Paul Whiteman “Linger Awhile” (1924)
79. Harry MacDonough “The Mansion of Aching Hearts” (1902)
80. Billy Murray “Come Take a Trip in My Air Ship” (1905)

81. Len Spencer “Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay” (1892)
82. Ada Jones “Row Row Row!” (1913)
83. Paul Whiteman with Jack Fulton “In a Little Spanish Town (‘Twas on a Night Like This)” (1927)
84. Arthur Collins “Any Rags?” (1903)
85. Harry MacDonough “Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder” (1901)
86. Red Nichols “Ida! Sweet As Apple Cider” (1927)
87. American Quartet “When You Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose” (1914)
88. Cecil Fanning “A Perfect Day” (1911)
89. Sophie Tucker “I Ain’t Got Nobody” (1927)
90. Bert Williams “He’s a Cousin of Mine” (1907)

91. Henry Burr “I’m Sorry I Made You Cry” (1918)
92. American Quartet “Chinatown, My Chinatown” (1915)
93. Frank Stanley & Elise Stevenson “Good Evening, Caroline” (1909)
94. Blossom Seely “Alabamy Bound” (1925)
95. Peerless Quartet “If I Had My Way (I’d Live Among the Gypsies)” (1914)
96. Billy Murray “Under the Anheuser Busch” (1904)
97. McKinney’s Cotton Pickers with George Thomas “If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight” (1930)
98. Bessie Smith “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home” (1923)
99. John McCormack “Moonlight and Roses” (1925)
100. Arthur Fields “Ja Da (Ja Da, Ja Da, Jing Jing Jing)” (1919)


Resources and Related Links:

First posted 4/3/2021; last updated 10/2/2023.

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Top 100 Songs from 1910-1919

Top 100 Songs of the Decade:

1910-1919

These are the top 100 songs from the 1910s according to Dave’s Music Database. Rankings are figured by combining sales figures, chart data, radio airplay, video airplay, streaming figures, awards, and appearances on best-of lists.

Check out other “songs of the decade” lists here.

1. Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1911)
2. American Quartet “Over There” (1917)
3. Peerless Quartet “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” (1911)
4. Al Jolson “You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)” (1913)
5. Billy Murray with the Haydn Quartet “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” (1910)
6. American Quartet “Moonlight Bay” (1912)
7. Original Dixieland Jazz Band “Tiger Rag” (1918)
8. Sophie Tucker “Some of These Days” (1911)
9. Marion Harris “After You’ve Gone” (1919)
10. Al Jolson “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody” (1918)

11. Henry Burr & Albert Campbell “Till We Meet Again” (1919)
12. Chauncey Olcott “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” (1913)
13. John McCormack “It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary” (1915)
14. Casey Jones...American Quartet with Billy Murray (1910)
15. Down by the Old Mill Stream...Harry MacDonough (1911)
16. Darktown Strutters’ Ball...Original Dixieland Jazz Band (1918)
17. They Didn't Believe Me...Harry MacDonough with Olive Kline (1915)
18. The Knickerbocker Quartet “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile” (1917)
19. Arthur Fields “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning” (1918)
20. Alma Gluck “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” (1915)

21. Henry Burr “Beautiful Ohio” (1919)
22. Heidelberg Quintet “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee” (1912)
23. Victor Military Band “Poor Butterfly” (1917)
24. Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “The Aba Daba Honeymoon” (1914)
25. Charles Harrison “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” (1918)
26. Henry Burr “Just a Baby’s Prayer at Twilight (For Her Daddy Over There)” (1918)
27. John Steel “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody” (1919)
28. Ben Selvin “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” (1919)
29. Peerless Quartet “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier” (1915)
30. Heidelberg Quintet “By the Beautiful Sea” (1914)

31. Billy Murray with the American Quartet “Oh, You Beautiful Doll” (1911)
32. Henry Burr “When I Lost You” (1913)
33. George MacFarlane “A Little Bit of Heaven (“Shure, They Call It Ireland”)” (1915)
34. Elsie Baker “The Missouri Waltz (Hush-a-Bye Ma Baby)” (1917)
35. Henry Burr “M-O-T-H-E-R (A Word That Means the World to Me)” (1916)
36. Chauncey Olcott “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That’s an Irish Lullaby)” (1913)
37. Prince’s Orchestra “Ballin’ the Jack” (1914)
38. Elsie Baker “I Love You Truly” (1912)
39. Billy Murray & Ada Jones with American Quartet “Come, Josephine, in My Flying Machine” (1911)
40. Anna Wheaton with James Harrod “Till the Clouds Roll By” (1917)

41. Fisk University Jubilee Quartet “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (1910)
42. Ernestine Schumann-Heink “Danny Boy” (1918)
43. Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “Put Your Arms Around Me, Honey (I Never Knew Any Girl Like You)” (1911)
44. Irving Kaufman with the Columbia Quartet “Hail! Hail! The Gang’s All Here” (1918)
45. Bob Roberts “Ragtime Cowboy Joe” (1912)
46. Billy Murray “Pretty Baby” (1916)
47. Nora Bayes “How ‘Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm after They've Seen Paree?” (1919)
48. Henry Burr “Oh! What a Pal Was Mary” (1919)
49. American Quartet “Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!” (1917)
50. Henry Burr “Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland” (1910)

51. Henry Burr “Goodbye, Good Luck, God Bless You (Is All That I Can Say)” (1916)
52. Harry MacDonough “Where the River Shannon Flows” (1910)
53. American Quartet “Goodbye Broadway, Hello France” (1917)
54. Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam’” (1913)
55. Prince’s Orchestra “The Star Spangled Banner” (1916)
56. John McCormack “I’m Falling in Love with Someone” (1911)
57. Joseph C. Smith’s Orchestra with Harry MacDonough “Smiles” (1918)
58. James F. Harrison “Keep the Home Fires Burning” (1915)
59. Billy Murray & Ada Jones “Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee” (1912)
60. Nora Bayes with Joseph Pasternach’s Orchestra “Over There” (1917)

61. Bert Williams “Play That Barber-Shop Chord” (1910)
62. Henry Burr & Albert Campbell “The Trail of the Lonesome Pine” (1913)
63. Olive Kline with Edward Hamilton “Hello Frisco!” (1915)
64. Al Jolson “I’ll Say She Does” (1919)
65. Prince’s Orchestra “The Memphis Blues” (1914)
66. Billy Murray “K-K-K-Katy (The Stammering Song)” (1918)
67. Charles Harrison “Peg O’ My Heart” (1913)
68. Al Jolson “The Spaniard That Blighted My Life” (1913)
69. Henry Burr “Last Night Was the End of the World” (1913)
70. John McCormack “Mother Machree” (1911)

71. Henry Burr with Albert Campbell “I’m on My Way to Mandalay” (1914)
72. Peerless Quartet “Want a Girl Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad” (1911)
73. Joe Hayman “Cohen on the Telephone” (1914)
74. James F. Harrison with James Reed “There’s a Long, Long Trail” (1915)
75. Enrico Caruso “Over There” (1918)
76. Arthur Clough with the Brunswick Quartet “Down by the Old Mill Stream” (1911)
77. Al Jolson “That Haunting Melody” (1912)
78. John McCormack “Somewhere a Voice Is Calling” (1916)
79. Al Jolson “Ragging the Baby to Sleep” (1912)
80. Arthur Collins with Bryon G. Harlan “Under the Yum Yum Tree” (1911)

81. Henry Burr & Albert Campbell “When I Was Twenty-One and You Were Sweet Sixteen” (1912)
82. Ada Jones “Row! Row! Row!” (1913)
83. American Quartet “It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary” (1914)
84. Cecil Fanning “A Perfect Day” (1911)
85. Al Jolson “Hello Central, Give Me No Man’s Land” (1918)
86. Nicholas Orlando’s Orchestra with Harry Macdonough & Charles Hart “Till We Meet Again” (1919)
87. Van & Schenck “For Me and My Gal” (1917)
88. Alma Gluck with Efrem Zimbalist “The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)” (1915)
89. Charles Harrison “Ireland Must Be Heaven for My Mother Came from There” (1916)
90. Arthur Collins with Bryon G. Harlan “I Love the Ladies” (1914)

91. Peerless Quartet “Over There” (1917)
92. American Quartet “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” (1914)
93. American Quartet “When You Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose” (1915)
94. Alma Gluck “Listen to the Mocking Bird (aka “The Mocking Bird”)” (1916)
95. Billy Murray “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1911)
96. Harry MacDonough with Lucy Isabelle Marsh “Every Little Movement” (1910)
97. Henry Burr “I’m Sorry I Made You Cry” (1918)
98. Henry Burr with Albert Campbell “There’s a Quaker Down in Quaker Town” (1916)
99. Arthur Clough “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” (1911)
100. Charles Harrison with the Columbia Stellar Quartet “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” (1918)


Resources/Related Links:


First posted 4/4/2012; last updated 3/26/2020.

Thursday, December 15, 2022

USA: #1 Pop Songs, 1900-1909

USA’s #1 Pop Songs:

1900-1909

These are the #1 pop songs on the United States pop charts from 1900 to 1909. Songs could have hit #1 on either of these charts:

Numbers following the letter codes indicate how many weeks the song spent at #1 on that chart. Links go to specific lists of the biggest songs of all time for that chart. The Gardner charts are monthly and not weekly so the #of weeks has been generated by multiplying the song’s number of months at #1 by 4. Also, the Gardner book indicates only the song title and not a specific artist so the artists identified here are the ones that have the highest ranked Dave’s Music Database version, hit #1 on the Billboard chart as well, and/or are spotlighted as the top version by Gardner.

Click here to access a full list of #1 songs from 1890 to present. See other chart-based lists here.


1900:

  1. 1/1: Arthur Collins “I’d Leave My Happy Home for You” (GA: 8, SM: 4)
  2. 2/3: Arthur Collins “Mandy Lee” (BB: 6)
  3. 3/1: Steve Porter “A Bird in a Gilded Cage” (GA: 8, BB: 6, SM: 5)
  4. 3/17: George J. Gaskin “When Chloe Sings a Song” (BB: 3)
  5. Mar: Jere Mahoney “A Bird in a Gilded Cage” (GA: 8, BB: 5)
  6. 4/17: Jere Mahoney “When You Were Sweet Sixteen” (BB: 5)
  7. 5/15: Bryon G. Harlan “The Blue and the Gray (The Mother’s Gift to Her Country)” (GA: 16, SM: 6)
  8. 7/28: Len Spencer “Ma Tiger Lily” (BB: 5)
  9. 8/15: Dan Quinn “Strike Up the Band, Here Comes a Sailor” (GA: 4, SM: 2)
  10. 9/1: Arthur Collins “Ma Tiger Lily” (BB: 6)
  11. 9/15: Joseph Natus “The Fatal Rose of Red” (GA: 4, SM: 2)
  12. 10/13: Haydn Quartet “Because” (BB: 4)
  13. 10/15: Harry MacDonough “I Can’t Tell You Why I Love You But I Do” (GA: 8, SM: 3)
  14. 11/10: George J. Gaskin “When You Were Sweet Sixteen” (BB: 8)
  15. 12/1: Jere Mahoney “For Old Times’ Sake” (GA: 4, SM: 2)

1901:

  1. 1/5: Albert Campbell “Ma Blushin’ Rosie” (BB: 7)
  2. 2/1: Arthur Collins & Joe Natus “Coon! Coon! Coon!” (GA: 4, SM: 3)
  3. 2/23: John Philip Sousa “The Stars and Stripes Forever” (BB: 3)
  4. 3/15: Big Four Quartet “Goodbye Dolly Gray” (GA: 12, SM: 7, BB: 3)
  5. 3/16: S.H. Dudley “When Reuben Comes to Town” (BB: 3)
  6. 5/11: Harry MacDonough with Grace Spencer “Tell Me, Pretty Maiden” (BB: 7)
  7. 6/29: Bryon G. Harlan with Frank Stanley, Joe Belmont, & the Florodora Girls “Tell Me, Pretty Maiden” (BB: 3)
  8. 7/10: Bryon G. Harlan “Hello Central, Give Me Heaven” (GA: 12, BB: 5, SM: 3)
  9. 7/20: Cal Stewart “Jim Lawson’s Horse Trade with Deacon Witherspoon” (BB: 3)
  10. 8/1: S.H. Dudley & Harry MacDonough “Sweet Annie Moore” (SM: 1)
  11. 9/14: J.W. Myers “In the Shade of the Palm” (BB: 1)
  12. 9/21: Cal Stewart “Uncle Josh's Huskin' Bee Dance” (BB: 3)
  13. 10/1: Bert Williams & George Walker “Good Morning, Carrie” (BB: 5, SM: 4)
  14. 10/12: Harry MacDonough “The Tale of a Bumblebee” (BB: 4)
  15. Oct: Dan Quinn “Good Evening, Carrie” (GA: 8, BB: 3)
  16. 11/9: Harry MacDonough “Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder” (BB: 3)
  17. 12/1: Harry MacDonough “I’ll Be with You When the Roses Bloom Again” (GA: 4, SM: 2)
  18. 12/21: Will Denny “Any Old Place I Can Hang My Hat Is Home Sweet Home to Me” (BB: 4)

1902:

  1. 1/1: Sousa’s Band “Creole Belles” (SM: 6)
  2. Jan: Metropolitan Orchestra “Creole Bells” GA: 12)
  3. 3/1: Len Spencer “The Arkansaw Traveler” (BB: 11)
  4. 4/1: J.W. Myers “Way Down Yonder in the Cornfield (Alabama)” (GA: 4, SM: 1)
  5. 4/15: J. Aldrich Libbey “On a Sunday Afternoon” (SM: 6)
  6. 5/10: J.W. Myers “On a Sunday Afternoon” (GA: 12, BB: 6)
  7. 6/21: J.W. Myers “Way Down in Old Indiana” (BB: 5)
  8. 7/15: Dan Quinn “Rip Van Winkle Was a Lucky Man” (SM: 1)
  9. 7/26: Arthur Collins “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home” (BB: 8, GA: 4)
  10. 8/1: Arthur Collins “Please Go ‘Way and Let Me Sleep” (GA: 4, SM: 2)
  11. 9/1: Dan Quinn “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home” (SM: 1)
  12. 9/15: Harry MacDonough “In the Good Old Summertime” (SM: 5)
  13. 9/20: Bryon G. Harlan “The Mansion of Aching Hearts” (BB: 3)
  14. 10/11: Harry MacDonough “The Mansion of Aching Hearts” (BB: 4)
  15. 11/8: J.W. Myers “In the Good Old Summertime” (BB: 7)
  16. 12/1: Dan Quinn “Mr. Dooley” (GA: 4, SM: 2)
  17. 12/27: Arthur Collins “Under the Bamboo Tree” (GA: 12, SM: 6, BB: 3)

1903:

  1. 1/1: Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “Down Where the Wurzburger Flows” (BB: 5, GA: 4, SM: 2)
  2. 2/21: Mina Hickman “Come Down Ma Evening Star” (BB: 5)
  3. 3/28: Haydn Quartet “In the Good Old Summertime” (GA: 8, BB: 6)
  4. 5/1: Harry MacDonough “Hiawatha (His Song to Minnehaha)” (GA: 12, SM: 6, BB: 4)
  5. 5/9: John Philip Sousa’s Band with Harry MacDonough & S.H. Dudley “In the Good Old Summertime” (GA: 8, BB: 4)
  6. 6/6: Harry MacDonough with John Bieling “In the Sweet Bye and Bye” (BB: 4)
  7. 8/1: Henry Burr “Come Down Ma Evening Star” (BB: 4)
  8. 8/29: Cal Stewart “Uncle Josh on an Automobile” (BB: 4)
  9. 8/1: Mina Hickman “Congo Love Song” (GA: 8, SM: 5)
  10. 9/26: Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “Hurrah for Baffin’s Bay” (BB: 5)
  11. 10/15: Bryon G. Harlan “Always in the Way” (GA: 8, SM: 3)
  12. 10/31: Arthur Collins “Goodbye Eliza Jane” (BB: 4)
  13. 12/1: Billy Murray “Bedelia” (SM: 7, BB: 3)
  14. 12/5: Arthur Collins “Any Rags?” (BB: 5)

1904:

  1. 1/9: Haydn Quartet “Bedelia” (GA: 12, BB: 7)
  2. 3/15: Billy Murray “Navajo” (GA: 8, BB: 5, SM: 3)
  3. 3/19: Richard Jose “Silver Threads Among the Gold” (BB: 4)
  4. May: Bryon G. Harlan & Frank Stanley “Blue Bell” (GA: 12, BB: 3)
  5. May: Haydn Quartet with Harry MacDonough “Blue Bell” (GA: 12, SM: 5, BB: 4)
  6. 7/9: Corinne Morgan with Haydn Quartet “Toyland” (BB: 2)
  7. 7/15: Billy Murray “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis” (BB: 9, GA: 8, SM: 4)
  8. 9/15: Billy Murray “Come Take a Trip in My Airship” (GA: 4, BB: 4, SM: 2)
  9. 9/24: Bryon G. Harlan “All Aboard for Dreamland” (BB: 2)
  10. 10/8: Billy Murray “Alexander (Don't You Love Your Baby No More?)” (BB: 3)
  11. 10/29: Haydn Quartet “Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart)” (BB: 10)
  12. 10/15: Mina Hickman “Goodbye Little Girl, Goodbye” (GA: 4, SM: 3)
  13. 12/1: Billy Murray “Teasing (I Was Only Teasing You)” (SM: 1)
  14. 12/15: Bob Roberts “I May Be Crazy, But I Ain't No Fool” (GA: 4, SM: 1)
  15. 12/24: Columbia Male Quartet “Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart)” (BB: 3)

1905:

  1. 1/1: Bob Roberts “Back Back Back to Baltimore” (GA: 8, SM: 4)
  2. 2/25: Billy Murray “Yankee Doodle Boy” (aka “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy”) (GA: 8, BB: 8, SM: 3)
  3. 4/15: Henry Burr (as Irving Gillette) “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree” (GA: 16, SM: 8, BB: 7)
  4. 6/10: Arthur Collins “The Preacher and the Bear” (BB: 11)
  5. 7/15: Billy Murray “Give My Regards to Broadway” (BB: 5)
  6. 8/15: Ada Jones “Keep a Little Cosey Corner in Your Heart for Me” (SM: 1)
  7. 9/30: Corinne Morgan with Haydn Quartet “Dearie” (GA: 4, BB: 2)
  8. 9/1: Arthur Collins “My Irish Molly-O” (GA: 4, SM: 2)
  9. 10/1: Bryon G. Harlan “Would You Care?” (GA: 8, SM: 4)
  10. 10/14: Billy Murray “In My Merry Oldsmobile” (BB: 7)
  11. 12/1: Bryon G. Harlan “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie” (GA: 12, SM: 6)
  12. 12/2: Bryon G. Harlan “Where the Morning Glories Twine Around the Door” (BB: 5)

1906:

  1. 1/6: Billy Murray “Everybody Works But Father” (BB: 3)
  2. 1/27: Corinne Morgan with the Haydn Quartet “How'd You Like to Spoon with Me?” (BB: 2)
  3. 2/10: Bryon G. Harlan “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie” (BB: 9)
  4. 2/24: Harry Tally “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie” (BB: 1)
  5. 3/1: Harry MacDonough “Dearie” (SM: 3)
  6. 4/15: Haydn Quartet with Harry MacDonough “Will You Love Me in December As You Do in May?” (GA: 8, SM: 3)
  7. 4/21; Corinne Morgan “So Long Mary” (BB: 3)
  8. 5/12: Billy Murray “You’re a Grand Old Flag (aka “The Grand Old Rag”)” (BB: 10, GA: 8, SM: 3)
  9. 7/15: Ada Jones “Waiting at the Church (My Wife Won't Let Me)” (GA: 8, SM: 4)
  10. 7/21: Bert Williams “Nobody” (BB: 9)
  11. 9/15: Billy Murray & the Haydn Quartet “Waltz Me Around Again, Willie” (SM: 5)
  12. 9/22: Bryon G. Harlan “The Good Old U.S.A.” (BB: 4)
  13. 10/20: Albert Campbell “Love Me and the World Is Mine” (BB: 3, SM: 1)
  14. 11/10: Henry Burr “Love Me and the World Is Mine” (BB: 7)
  15. 12/1: Bryon G. Harlan “Won't You Come Over to My House?” (GA: 4, SM: 1)
  16. 12/29: Bert Williams “Let It Alone” (BB: 2)

1907:

  1. 1/1: Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan “Arrah Wanna” (SM: 4)
  2. 1/12: Albert Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “Camp Meetin’ Time” (BB: 2)
  3. 1/26: Bert Williams “He’s a Cousin of Mine” (BB: 2)
  4. Jan: Billy Murray with the Haydn Quartet “Arrah Wanna” (GA: 8)
  5. 2/12: Bryon G. Harlan “My Gal Sal” (BB: 10)
  6. 3/1: Helen Trix “The Bird on Nellie’s Hat” (GA: 4, SM: 2)
  7. 4/1: Vesta Victoria “Poor John!” (SM: 2)
  8. 4/20: Ada Jones “I Just Can't Make My Eyes Behave” (BB: 2)
  9. Apr: Ada Jones “Poor John!” (GA: 4)
  10. 5/1: Billy Murray “San Antonio (Cowboy Song)” (SM: 2)
  11. 5/4: Harry MacDonough with Elise Stevenson “Because You’re You” (BB: 2)
  12. 5/18: Bryon G. Harlan “School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids)” (GA: 20, BB: 11, SM: 9)
  13. May: Billy Murray “San Antonio (Cowboy Song)” (GA: 4)
  14. 8/3: Bryon G. Harlan “Nobody’s Little Girl” (BB: 3)
  15. 8/24: Enrico Caruso “Pagliacci, Act I: Vesti La Giubba (On with the Play) (new version)” (BB: 4)
  16. 9/21: Billy Murray “Harrigan” (BB: 9, SM: 6, GA: 2)
  17. 11/23: Ada Jones & Billy Murray “Let's Take an Old-Fashioned Walk” (BB: 6)

1908:

  1. 1/4: Harry MacDonough “My Dear” (BB: 5)
  2. 1/15: Bryon G. Harlan “Two Blue Eyes (Two Little Baby Shoes)” (GA: 4, SM: 1)
  3. 2/1: Billy Murray “The Best I Get Is Much Obliged to You” (SM: 1)
  4. 2/8: Billy Murray “Under Any Old Flag at All” (BB: 6)
  5. 2/15: Elise Stevenson & Harry MacDonough “I Love You So (Merry Widow Waltz)” (SM: 3)
  6. Feb: Victor Orchestra “I Love You So (Merry Widow Waltz)” (GA: 8)
  7. 3/21: Alan Turner “As Long As the World Rolls On” (BB: 6)
  8. 4/1: Billy Murray “I'm Afraid to Come Home in the Dark” (GA: 8, SM: 3)
  9. 5/2: Ada Jones & Billy Murray “Wouldn't You Like to Have Me for a Sweetheart?” (BB: 3)
  10. 5/15: Victor Orchestra “The Glow-Worm” (GA: 8, SM: 6, BB: 5)
  11. 6/27: Lucy Isabell Marsh “The Glow-Worm” (GA: 8, BB: 5)
  12. 8/1: Elise Stevenson “Are You Sincere?” (BB: 4)
  13. 8/29: Ada Jones & Billy Murray “When We Are M-A-R-R-I-E-D” BB: 4)
  14. Aug: Billy Murray with the Haydn Quartet “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (GA: 8, BB: 7)
  15. 9/15: Harvey Hindermeyer “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (GA: 8, BB: 7, SM: 2)
  16. 9/15: Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan “Down in Jungle Town” (SM: 1)
  17. 9/26: Ada Jones & Billy Murray “Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine” (BB: 5)
  18. 10/1: Haydn Quartet with Harry MacDonough “Sunbonnet Sue” (GA: 16, SM: 8, BB: 5)

1909:

  1. 1/23: Frank Stanley & Elise Stevenson “Good Evening, Caroline” (BB: 5)
  2. 2/1: Eddie Morton “The Right Church But the Wrong Pew” (SM: 3)
  3. 2/27: Arthur Collns & Bryon G. Harlan “The Right Church But the Wrong Pew” (BB: 6)
  4. Feb: Arthur Collins & Bryon G. Harlan “The Right Church But the Wrong Pew” (GA: 4)
  5. 3/15: Harry MacDonough & Miss Walton “Shine on, Harvest Moon” (GA: 12, BB: 9, SM: 5)
  6. 6/1: Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan “Yip-I-Addy-I-Ay!” (SM: 4)
  7. 6/12: Ada Jones & Billy Murray “Shine on, Harvest Moon” (GA: 12, BB: 5)
  8. June: Blanche Ring “Yip-I-Addy-I-Ay!” (GA: 8)
  9. 7/13: Henry Burr “To the End of the World with You” (BB: 3)
  10. 8/1: Ada Jones “My Pony Boy” (GA: 4, SM: 2)
  11. 8/7: Ada Jones & the Victor Light Opera “The Yama Yama Man” (BB: 5)
  12. 9/1: Henry Burr “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now” (GA: 8, BB: 8, SM: 4)
  13. 11/1: Blanche Ring “I've Got Rings on My Fingers” (GA: 4, BB: 2, SM: 2)
  14. 11/20: Ada Jones “I've Got Rings on My Fingers” (GA: 4, BB: 4)
  15. 12/1: Billy Murray with the Haydn Quartet “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” (GA: 12, BB: 9, SM: 6)
  16. 12/18: Haydn Quartet “Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet” (BB: 11, GG: 3)

Resources/Related Links:


Last updated 12/15/2022.

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Dave's Music Database Hall of Fame: Song Inductees (July 2021)

Originally posted 7/22/2021.

In honor of the 10th anniversary of the DMDB blog on January 22, 2019, Dave’s Music Database launched its own Hall of Fame. This is the eleventh set of song inductees. These are the 10 highest-ranked songs that make the DMDB’s list of the “Top 100 Vaudeville Songs of All Time”. It does not include previously inducted songs “You’re a Grand Old Flag” by Billy Murray, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” by Arthur Collins and Bryon G. Harlan, “April Showers” and “Swanee” by Al Jolson, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” by Billy Murray & the Haydn Quartet.

Arthur Collins “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Come Home” (1902)

Inducted July 2021 as “Top Vaudeville Songs”

This “early ragtime classic” RCG and “favorite of Dixie jazz bands” JA-22 became a “sing-along standard” RCG thanks to the ease with which it could be adapted to jazz or played on honky-tonk piano or banjo. RCG John Queen, a minstrel and songwriter introduced this instant hit. Arthur Collins, Dan Quinn, and Silas Leachman each took the song to the top 5 in 1902, but Collins’ version was the biggest. PM He was no stranger to the top, having landed there seven times before. This, however, was his biggest hit yet. Read more.

Billy Murray “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis” (1904)

Inducted July 2021 as “Top Vaudeville Songs”

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. Composer Kerry Mills and lyricist Andrew Sterling capitalized on the city’s popularity by penning what what would become the exposition’s theme song. RA Read more.

Haydn Quartet “Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart)” (1904)

Inducted July 2021 as “Top Vaudeville Songs”

As “the signature barbershop song,” DS “Sweet Adeline” may represent the sound of the first decade of the 20th century, WHC maybe even the first two decades, DS more than any other song. WHC The style of four-part male harmony with little or no musical accompaniment was popularized by groups like the Haydn Quartet who scored their sixth #1 with “Sweet Adeline,” the biggest hit of 1904. WHC Read more.

Billy Murray “Yankee Doodle Boy” (1905)

Inducted July 2021 as “Top Vaudeville Songs”

George M. Cohan “virtually invented musical comedy” LW predating future musical theatre greats like Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, and Richard Rodgers. His first two efforts at Broadway musicals flopped, but his third attempt, 1904’s Little Johnny Jones, was a hit PS producing “Give My Regards to Broadway” and “Yankee Doodle Boy.” PS Billy Murray’s recording of the latter gave the Victor record company its biggest seller up to that point. SS Read more.

Billy Murray “Give My Regards to Broadway” (1905)

Inducted July 2021 as “Top Vaudeville Songs”

George M. Cohan wrote, composed, produced, acted, and danced in the Broadway musical, Little Johnny Jones, inspired by real-life jockey Tod Sloan. The show featured “Give My Regards to Broadway” which “could only have been sung by an opinionated, cocky young man with a very high opinion of his own worth.” LW Cohan was a natural. Read more.

Bryon G. Harlan “School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids)” (1907)

Inducted July 2021 as “Top Vaudeville Songs”

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.” JA Read more.

Harry Macdonough with Miss Walton “Shine on Harvest Moon” (1909)

Inducted July 2021 as “Top Vaudeville Songs”

Nora Bayes and husband Jack Norworth wrote what may be “the most recognized of the many ‘moon’ ballads.” RCG It was “decidedly old-fashioned and a product of twentieth century innocence.” RCG The duo introduced the song in Florenz Ziegfeld’s 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 and it became Bayes’ signature song. RCG Read more.

Billy Murray with the Haydn Quartet “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” (1910)

Inducted July 2021 as “Top Vaudeville Songs”

Edward Madden crafted the words for “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” around Gus Edwards “somewhat dreamy music that lends itself to soft shoe.” RCG Its “moon-June-croon rhymes” are “cliché by today’s standards,” RCG but were representative of the Tin Pan Alley era which dominated music in the early 1900s. Read more.

Sophie Tucker “Some of These Days” (1911)

Inducted July 2021 as “Top Vaudeville Songs”

This has been called “the most important turning point in Tin Pan Alley history” because it was completely different than other popular music of the day. RCG Canadian songwriter Shelton Brooks originally composed this blues number as a waltz, but integrated jazz into the song’s loose structure. As such, jazz musicians had a wide-open pallet on which to improvise. RCG Read more.

American Quartet “Moonlight Bay” (1912)

Inducted July 2021 as “Top Vaudeville Songs”

“Arguably the best moonlight song ever written,” PS “Moonlight Bay” “conjures up an entire lost era of a slower-paced America that…had plenty of time for gentle spooning in an unspoiled natural setting.” SS It is “a very durable song from Tin Pan Alley about an idyllic setting for romance.” RCG Read more.

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Top 100 Songs from 1900-1909

First posted 4/4/2012; last updated 3/26/2020.

Top 100 Songs of the Decade:

1900-1909

These are the top 100 songs from the first ten years of the 20th century according to Dave’s Music Database. Rankings are figured by combining sales figures, chart data, radio airplay, video airplay, streaming figures, awards, and appearances on best-of lists.

1. You’re a Grand Old Flag (aka “The Grand Old Rag”)…Billy Murray (1906)
2. Take Me Out to the Ball Game…Haydn Quartet (1908)
3. Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart)…Haydn Quartet (1904)
4. In the Good Old Summertime…Haydn Quartet (1903)
5. Give My Regards to Broadway…Billy Murray (1905)
6. Meet Me in St. Louis Louis…Billy Murray (1904)
7. Yankee Doodle Boy…Billy Murray (1905)
8. School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids)…Byron Harlan (1907)
9. Bill Bailey Won’t You Please Come Home…Arthur Collins (1902)
10. Shine on Harvest Moon…Harry MacDonough with Miss Walton (1909)

11. My Gal Sal…Byron Harlan (1907)
12. I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now…Henry Burr (1909)
13. Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie…Byron Harlan (1906)
14. Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet…Haydn Quartet (1909)
15. In My Merry Oldsmobile…Billy Murray (1905)
16. The Glow-Worm…Victor Orchestra (1908)
17. In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree…Henry Burr (1905)
18. Harrigan…Billy Murray (1907)
19. The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)…Vess Ossman (1900)
20. The Preacher and the Bear…Arthur Collins (1905)

21. Nobody…Bert Williams (1906)
22. On a Sunday Afternoon…J.W. Myers (1902)
23. Tell Me Pretty Maiden…Harry MacDonough with Grace Spencer (1901)
24. Bedelia…Haydn Quartet (1904)
25. A Bird in a Gilded Cage…Steve Porter (1900)
26. Hello Central Give Me Heaven…Byron Harlan (1901)
27. When You Were Sweet Sixteen…George J. Gaskin (1900)
28. Hiawatha (His Song to Minnehaha)…Harry MacDonough (1903)
29. Listen to the Mocking Bird…Frank Stanley & Corrine Morgan (1904)
30. Pagliacci, Act I: Vesti La Giubba (On with the Play) (LEONCAVALLO)…Enrico Caruso (1907)

31. Toyland…Haydn Quartet with Corrine Morgan (1904)
32. Love Me and the World Is Mine…Henry Burr (1906)
33. Auld Lang Syne…Frank Stanley (1907)
34. Arkansaw Traveler…Len Spencer (1902)
35. Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine…Billy Murray & Ada Jones (1908)
36. Under the Bamboo Tree…Arthur Collins (1902)
37. Down Where the Wurzburger Flows…Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan (1903)
38. Silver Threads Among the Gold…Richard Jose (1904)
39. Sunbonnet Sue…Haydn Quartet (1908)
40. Blue Bell…Byron Harlan with Frank Stanley (1904)

41. Navajo…Billy Murray (1904)
42. Goodbye, Dolly Gray…Big Four Quartet (1901)
43. Ma Blushin’ Rosie…Albert Campbell (1900)
44. I’ve Got Rings on My Fingers…Ada Jones (1909)
45. In the Sweet Bye and Bye…Harry MacDonough with John Bieling (1903)
46. As Long As the World Rolls On…Alan Turner (1908)
47. The Right Church But the Wrong Pew…Arthur Collins with Byron Harlan (1909)
48. Come Down, Ma Evening Star…Mina Hickman (1903)
49. Maple Leaf Rag…U.S. Marine Band (1907)
50. In the Good Old Summertime…J.W. Myers (1902)

51. The Mansion of Aching Hearts…Harry MacDonough (1902)
52. Mighty Like a Rose (aka “Mighty Lak a Rose”)…George Alexander (1903)
53. Good Morning, Carrie…Bert Williams with George Walker (1902)
54. Any Rags?...Arthur Collins (1903)
55. Come Take a Trip in My Air-Ship…Billy Murray (1905)
56. Everybody Works But Father…Billy Murray (1905)
57. Ma Tiger Lily…Arthur Collins (1900)
58. In the Good Old Summertime…John Philip Sousa’s Band with Harry Macdonough & S.H. Dudley (1902)
59. The Yama Yama Man…Ada Jones with the Victor Light Orchestra Co. (1909)
60. Are You Sincere?...Elise Stevenson (1908)

61. The Good Old U.S.A….Byron Harlan (1906)
62. I Love a Lassie (My Scotch Bluebell)…Harry Lauder (1907)
63. Shine on Harvest Moon…Ada Jones & Billy Murray (1909)
64. Any Old Place I Hang My Hat Is “Home Sweet Home”…Will Denny (1901)
65. The Glow-Worm…Lucy Isabelle Marsh (1908)
66. Where the Morning Glories Twine Around the Door…Byron Harlan (1905)
67. Good Evening, Caroline…Frank Stanley with Elise Stevenson (1909)
68. Hurrah for Baffin’s Bay…Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan (1903)
69. Take Me Out to the Ball Game…Edward Meeker (1908)
70. Way Down in Old Indiana…J.W. Myers (1902)

71. Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder…Harry MacDonough (1901)
72. How’d You Like to Spoon with Me?...Corrine Morgan with the Haydn Quartet (1906)
73. Goodbye, Eliza Jane…Arthur Collins (1903)
74. So Long, Mary…Corrine Morgan (1906)
75. The Tale of a Bumble Bee…Harry MacDonough (1901)
76. Under Any Old Flag at All…Billy Murray (1908)
77. The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)…Louise Homer (1905)
78. The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)…Haydn Quartet (1904)
79. Take Me Out to the Ball Game…Harvey Hindermeyer (1908)
80. When Chloe Sings a Song…George J. Gaskin (1900)

81. Alexander (Don’t You Love Your Baby No More?)…Billy Murray (1904)
82. Dear Old Girl…J.W. Myers (1903)
83. When We Are M-A-R-R-I-E-D…Ada Jones & Billy Murray (1908)
84. He’s a Cousin of Mine…Bert Williams (1907)
85. Waiting at the Church (My Wife Won’t Let Me)…Ada Jones (1906)
86. I Just Can’t Make My Eyes Behave…Ada Jones (1903)
87. To the End of the World with You…Henry Burr (1909)
88. Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart)…Columbia Male Quartet (1904)
89. Red Wing (An Indian Fable)…Frank Stanley with Henry Burr (1907)
90. Let’s Take an Old-Fashioned Walk…Ada Jones with Billy Murray (1907)

91. Nobody’s Little Girl…Byron Harlan (1907)
92. Dearie…Corrine Morgan with the Haydn Quartet (1905)
93. Always in the Way…Byron Harlan (1903)
94. Camp Meetin’ Time…Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan (1906)
95. Under the Anhauser Bush…Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan (1904)
96. Anchors Aweigh…U.S. Naval Academy Band (1906)
97. Daddy’s Little Girl…Byron Harlan (1906)
98. My Wild Irish Rose…Haydn Quartet with Harry MacDonough (1907)
99. A Coon Band Contest…Vess Ossman (1900)
100. I Can’t Tell You Why I Love You But I Do…Harry MacDonough (1900)

Saturday, June 22, 2019

Dave's Music Database Hall of Fame: Music Maker Inductees (June 2019)

Originally posted 6/22/2019; last updated 5/21/2021.

January 22, 2019 marks the 10-year anniversary of the DMDB blog! To honor that, Dave’s Music Database announces its own Hall of Fame. This month marks the second batch of music maker inductees. The first batch were the top 10 acts of all time, according to Dave’s Music Database. These are the next ten. See the full list of music maker inductees here.

David Bowie (1947-2016)

Inducted June 2019 as a “Top 20 All-Time Act.”

Glam-rock singer/songwriter born David Robert Jones 1/8/1947 in Brixton, London, England. Died 1/10/2016 in New York City. Became David Bowie 9/15/65 to avoid confusion with the Monkees’ Davy Jones. (v – Kon-Rads; Reds & Blues; King Bees: 11/63 to 8/64; Manish Boys: 8/64 to 4/65; Davy Jones: 65; Lower Third: 3/65 to 1/66; The Buzz: 2/66 to 12/66; solo: 66-; Tin Machine: 89-92). Produced Mott the Hoople (“All the Young Dudes”) and Lou Reed (Transformer) in 1972. Read more.

Henry Burr (1882-1941)

Inducted June 2019 as a “Top 20 All-Time Act.”

Traditional pop tenor singer born Harry H. McClaskey on 1/15/1882 in St. Stephen, Brunswick, Canada. Died 4/6/1941. The #1 ballad singer of recorded music’s 1890-1930 pioneer era. He was performing publicly by the age of 5. He was discovered in 1901 by the Metropolitan Opera baritone Giuseppe Campanari and moved to New York in 1902. The tenor singer used multiple pseudonyms, including Henry Burr and Irving Gillette, to record for various labels. In addition to his work as a soloist (1903-28), he recorded with the Columbia Male Quartet (1904-07), Peerless Quartet (07-28), Columbia Stellar Quartet (15-?), and the Sterling Trio (16-22). He also recorded duets with Albert Campbell. He sang on an estimated 12,000 recordings, far more than any other vocalist in history. Read more.

Ray Charles (1930-2004)

Inducted June 2019 as a “Top 20 All-Time Act.”

R&B singer born Ray Charles Robinson on 9/23/1930 in Albany, GA. Died 6/10/2004. Well known for integrating multiple genres into his music. To Greenville, FL while still an infant. Partially blind at age 5, completely blind at age 7 (glaucoma). Studied classical piano and clarinet at State School for Deaf and Blind Children, St. Augustine, FL, 1937-45. With local Florida bands; moved to Seattle in 1948. First recordings were in the King Cole Trio style. Formed own band in 1954. Singer/actor Jamie Foxx won the Academy Award for Best Actor portraying Charles in Ray! Read more.

Arthur Collins (1864-1933)

Inducted June 2019 as a “Top 20 All-Time Act.”

Pioneering recording artist known as “The King of the Ragtime Singers.” He was born 2/7/1864 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Died 8/3/1933. This baritone singer specialized in African-American dialect songs performed on vaudeville and in minstrel shows. He worked as a soloist (1898-1920), with the Big Four Quartet (01), with Byron Harlan (01-18), and with the Peerless Quartet (09-18). Read more.

Bob Dylan (1941-)

Inducted June 2019 as a “Top 20 All-Time Act.”

Folk-rock singer/songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player born Robert Allen Zimmerman on 5/24/1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. Took stage name from poet Dylan Thomas. He went to New York City in 1960 and worked in folk clubs in Greenwich Village. He signed to Columbia Records in October 1961. Member of the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys (88-91). Gained a reputation as one of rock music’s greatest lyricists with his political and socially-conscious songs, even winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for his lyrics. Read more.

Byron G. Harlan (1861-1936)

Inducted June 2019 as a “Top 20 All-Time Act.”

Tenor singer born Byron George Harlan on 8/29/1861 in Kansas. Died 9/11/1936. Worked as a ragtime and minstrel singer and balladeer, recording as a solo artist (1899-1919), in a duo with Arthur Collins (01-18), and with the Big Four Quartet (01) and Columbia Comedy Trio (07). He was friends and neighbors with Thomas Edison. Read more.

Guy Lombardo (1902-1977)

Inducted June 2019 as a “Top 20 All-Time Act.”

Jazz/big band leader and violinist Gaetano Alberto “Guy” Lombardo was born on 6/19/1902 in London, Ontario, Canada. He died 11/5/1977. He and his brothers formed the Royal Canadians in 1924, billing themselves as “the sweetest music this side of heaven.” Led the only dance band ever to sell more than 100 million records. Lombardo was called “Mr. New Year’s Eve” because of nearly a half-century of his band’s radio and television broadcasts to ring in the new year. Read more.

Prince (1958-2016)

Inducted June 2019 as a “Top 20 All-Time Act.”

Singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer born Prince Roger Nelson on 6/7/1958 in Minneapolis, MN. Died 4/21/2016. Self-taught musician. Named for the Prince Roger Trio, led by his father. Own group, Grand Central, in junior high school. Self-produced first album in 1978. Founded own label, Paisley Park, in 1985. Starred in several movies including 1984’s Purple Rain. Formed back-up group The Revolution in 1984 and New Power Generation in 1990. Read more.

Bruce Springsteen (1949-)

Inducted June 2019 as a “Top 20 All-Time Act.”

Rock singer/songwriter and guitarist born Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen on 9/23/1949 in Freehold, NJ. Known as “The Boss.” Worked local clubs in New Jersey and Greenwich Village in the mid-60’s. Has recorded and toured solo and with the E Street Band off and on from 1972 forward. Read more.

Stevie Wonder (1950-)

Inducted June 2019 as a “Top 20 All-Time Act.”

R&B singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer born Stevland Hardaway Morris né Judkins on 5/13/1950 in Saginaw, Michigan. He was a child prodigy who was blind since shortly after his birth. He signed with Motown at age 11; initially doing backup work. He started recording in 1962 as “Little Stevie Wonder” and became the youngest artist (age 13) to top the Billboard Hot 100 with “Fingertips.” When he turned 21, he reworked his Motown contract for more artistic freedom. He has won 25 Grammys, the most ever by a solo artist. Read more.
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Wednesday, May 1, 2019

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:


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First posted 3/20/2023.

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Byron Harlan: His Top 50 Songs

First posted 8/29/2013; updated 5/29/2019.

Tenor singer born Byron George Harlan on 8/29/1861 in Kansas. Died 9/11/1936. Worked as a ragtime and minstrel singer and balladeer, recording as a solo artist (1899-1919), in a duo with Arthur Collins (01-18), and with the Big Four Quartet (01) and Columbia Comedy Trio (07). He was friends and neighbors with Thomas Edison.

Harlan has five songs featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Pre-Rock Era, 1890-1953 – “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” and “The Darktown Strutters’ Ball” are duets with Arthur Collins while “School Days,” “My Gal Sal,” and “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie” are solo recordings.

For a complete list of this act’s songs and albums honored by the DMDB, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry.


Top 100 Songs

Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards.

AC = Arthur Collins, FS = Frank Stanley. His 23 songs which peaked at #1 on the U.S. pop charts are noted.

DMDB Top 1%:

1. Alexander’s Ragtime Band (w/ AC, 1911) #1
2. School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids) (1907) #1
3. My Gal Sal (1907) #1
4. Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie (1906) #1
5. Darktown Strutters’ Ball (w/ AC, 1918) #1
6. The Aba Daba Honeymoon (w/ AC, 1901) #1
7. Hello, Central, Give Me Heaven (1901) #1
8. Put Your Arms Around Me Honey (I Never Knew Any Girl Like You) (w/ AC, 1911) #1
9. Down Where the Wurzburger Flows (w/ AC, 1902) #1
10. Blue Bell (w/ FS, 1904) #1

DMDB Top 5%:

11. When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam’ (w/ AC, 1913)
12. The Right Church But the Wrong Pew (w/ AC, 1909) #1
13. The Good Old U.S.A. (1906) #1
14. Under the Yum Yum Tree (w/ AC, 1911) #1
15. Where the Morning Glories Twine Around the Door (1905) #1
16. Hurrah for Baffin’s Bay (w/ AC, 1903) #1
17. I Love the Ladies (w/ AC, 1914) #1
18. Everybody’s Doin’ It Now (w/ AC, 1912)
19. Always in the Way (1903)
20. Daddy’s Little Girl (1906)

21. Keep on the Sunny Side (1906)
22. Camp Meetin’ Time (w/ AC, 1906) #1
23. Oh How She Could Yacki Hacki Wicki Wachi Woo (That's Love in Honolulu) (w/ AC, 1916) #1
24. Alabama Jubilee (w/ AC, 1915)
25. Nobody’s Little Girl (1907) #1
26. Tammany (w/ AC, 1905)
27. Coax Me (w/ AC, 1905)
28. Would You Care? (1905)
29. Oh, You Circus Day (w/ AC, 1912)
30. All Aboard for Dreamland (1904) #1

31. Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (The Boys Are Marching Along) (w/ FS, 1910) #1
32. The Old Grey Mare (Whiffle Tree) (w/ AC, 1918)
33. Tell Me Pretty Maiden (w/ FS, Joe Belmont, & Flordora Girls, 1901) #1
34. When the Harvest Days Are Over, Jessie, Dear (1901)
35. Melinda’s Wedding Day (w/ AC, 1913)
36. Down Among the Sugar Cane (w/ AC, 1909)
37. Down in Jungle Town (w/ AC, 1908)
38. They're Wearing 'Em Higher in Hawaii (w/ AC, 1917)
39. Snookey Ookums (w/ AC, 1913)
40. The Mansion of Aching Hearts (1902) #1

41. There Never Was a Girl Like You (1908)
42. In the Shadows of the Pines (with A.D. Madeira, 1900)
43. The Cubanola Glide (w/ AC, 1910)
44. The Wedding of Reuben and the Maid (w/ AC, 1901)
45. My Gal Irene (w/ AC, 1908)
46. The Battle Cry of Freedom (w/ FS, 1905)
47. Waiting for the Robert E. Lee (w/ AC, 1912)
48. Won’t You Come Over to My House? (1907)

DMDB Top 10%:

49. That Mesmerizing Mendelssohn Tune (w/ AC, 1910)
50. Two Blue Eyes (Two Little Baby Shoes) (1907)

51. Under the Anheuser Busch (w/ AC, 1904)
52. Two Rubes in a Tavern (w/ FS, 1902)
53. Under the Bamboo Tree (w/ AC, 1903)
54. Parody on “Hiawatha” (w/ AC, 1903)
55. The Blue and the Gray (The Mother’s Gift to Her Country) (1900)
56. The International Rag (w/ AC, 1913)
57. Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet (1910)
58. In My Merry Oldsmobile (w/ AC, 1905)
59. Please Mamma Buy Me a Baby (1903)
60. The Leader of the German Band (w/ AC, 1906)

61. There’s No Place Like Home (1903)
62. Longing for You (1905)
63. How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm After They’ve Seen Paree (1919)
64. Down in Chattanooga (w/ AC, 1914)
65. Sugar Moon (w/ AC, 1910)
66. Celebratin’ Day in Tennessee (w/ AC, 1914)
67. The Honeymoon Glide (w/ AC, 1911)
68. The Message of the Old Church Bell (1905)
69. And a Little Bit More (w/ AC, 1907)
70. Sunbonnet Sue (1908)

71. I’m Crazy ‘Bout It! (w/ AC, 1906)
72. I'm Going Back to Dixie (aka “I Want to Be in Dixie”) (w/ AC, 1912)
73. Meet Me in Rose-Time, Rosie (w/ FS, 1909)
74. The Birds (w/ Joe Belmont, 1902)
75. First Rehearsal for the Huskin’ Bee (w/ FS, 1902)
76. I’m a Twelve O’Clock Fellow in a Nine O’Clock Town (1917)

DMDB Top 20%:

77. Out in an Automobile (w/ AC, 1906)
78. It Makes Me Think of Home, Sweet Home (1905)
79. Casey Jones (w/ AC, 1910)
80. Are You Sincere? (1908)

81. It Looks Like a Big Night Tonight (w/ AC, 1908)
82. Chicken Reel (w/ FS, 1911)
83. Here Comes My Daddy Now (w/ AC, 1913)
84. The Memphis Blues (w/ AC, 1915)
85. On a Monkey Honeymoon (w/ AC, 1910)
86. Down Where the Big Bananas Grow (w/ AC, 1910)
87. Moonlight in Jungle Land (w/ AC, 1910)
88. Minstrel Parade (w/ AC, 1915)
89. Yip-I-Addy-I-Ay! (w/ AC, 1909)
90. Paddle Your Own Canoe (w/ AC, 1906)

91. Goodbye Little Girl Goodbye (1904)
92. Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula (w/ AC, 1916)
93. Long Boy (Goodbye, Ma! Goodbye, Pa! Goodbye, Mule) (w/ the Peerless Quartet, 1918)
94. A Picnic for Two (1905)
95. Camp Meeting Band (w/ AC, 1914)
96. By Heck (with Will Robbins, 1915)
97. My Wife’s Gone to the Country (Hurah! Hurah!) (w/ AC, 1909)
98. Down in Dear Old New Orleans (w/ AC, 1913)
99. School Mates (1909)
100. It’s Great to Be a Soldier Man (1907)


Awards:


Friday, April 13, 2018

On This Day (1918): “Darktown Strutters’ Ball” hits #1

Darktown Strutters’ Ball

Original Dixieland Jazz Band

Writer(s): Shelton Brooks (see lyrics here)


First Charted: October 13, 1917


Peak: 2 US, 18 GA, 18 SM (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): 3.0 (sheet music sales)


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.23 video, -- streaming

Darktown Strutters’ Ball

Arthur Collins and Byron G. Harlan


First Charted: March 30, 1918


Peak: 11 US, 12 GA (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): 3.0 (sheet music sales)


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards (Original Dixieland Jazz Band):

Click on award for more details.


Awards (Collins/Harlan):

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Shelton Brooks, who also wrote Sophie Tucker’s “Some of These Days,” was inspired to write “Ball” by a 1915 social gathering during the Panama Pacific International Exposition he attended in San Francisco. SS Tucker would then introduce the song on vaudeville. SS In 1917, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded an instrumental version, “whose recording was never imitated.” JA Their version charted at #2 and, in 2006, was named to the Grammy Hall of Fame.

The next year, however, the song had its greatest success when the “masters of minstrel/blackface-styled romps, Arthur Collins and Byron G. Harlan” SS “unveiled [the song] in all its rowdy glory.” SS Collins and Harlan paired up in 1901 and charted eighty-nine times over the next seventeen years. “Ball” was their 88th chart hit and the last of their dozen trips to #1. PM Individually, Collins racked up another 47 solo hits of which 11 hit #1 PM and Harlan charted 54 times, also hitting the peak 11 times. PM All told, they compiled 34 #1 hits collectively and independently.

Others to chart with the song include Alan Dale and Connie Haines (#29, 1948), the Jaudas’ Society Orchestra (#9, 1918), Ted Lewis (#12, 1927), Lou Monte (#7, 1954), and the Six Brown Brothers (#10, 1917) PM Others to record the song included Ray Anthony, the Boswell Sisters, Larry Clinton, Jimmy Dorsey, Arthur Fields, Phil Harris, Pee Wee Hunt, Fats Waller, and Chick Webb. WK

The song was featured in the movie The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), sung by Paul Frees during a murder scene. Robert Redford sang it in The Natural (1984) and Kristin Scott Thomas sang it in The English Patient (1996). WK The song has also been used in TV shoes, including Tom and Jerry (“Saturday Evening Puss,” 1950), M*A*S*H (premiere episode in 1971), and The Simpsons (“Old Money”). WK In 1972, “Strutters’ Ball” was one of ten songs named to the Songwriters Hall of Fame as an historic standard. SS


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Last updated 9/6/2023.