100 years ago: Henry Burr hit #1 with “My Buddy”

My Buddy Henry Burr

Writer(s): Walter Donaldson (music), Gus Kahn (words) (see lyrics here) First Charted: November 4, 1922 Peak: 11 US, 6 GA, 12 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.19 video, 0.07 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “My Buddy” was the first hit for Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn. Donaldson previously had hits with “How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm After They’ve Seen Paree?” and “My Mammy” while Kahn had written lyrics for “Pretty Baby” and “Ain’t We Got Fun?” The pair went on to work together on “Makin’ Whoopee,” “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby,” “Carolina in the Morning,” and “Love Me or Leave Me” and wrote more hits with other partners. Both were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The song “My Buddy” became a favorite in vaudeville, DJ popularized by Al Jolson. TY2 It was “quite a tearjerker.” TY2 It is “an old-fashioned ballad that brought back people’s memories of a time before the war,” SM allowing them “to express their grief now that part of their life was no longer there.” SM The lyrics say, “Life is a book that we study / Some of its leaves bring a sigh / There it was written by a buddy/ That we must part you and I / Nights are long since you went away / I think about you all through the day.” “My Buddy” was the last of Henry Burr’s twenty-three chart-toppers as a solo artist or with Albert Campbell. He had 164 chart entries total and is considered “the #1 ballad singer of recorded music’s 1890-1930 pioneer era.” PM He was the first to chart with “My Buddy” and his was the most successful. There were also chart versions by Ernest Hare (#5, 1923), Ben Bernie (#11, 1923), and Sammy Kaye (#23, 1942). PM The song has also been recorded by Gene Autry, Chet Baker, Count Basie, Teresa Brewer, Benny Carter, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Bobby Darin, Doris Day, Dr. John, Connie Francis, Glenn Frey, Stan Getz, Jackie Gleason, Eydie Gormé, Lionel Hampton, Coleman Hawkins, Jeff Healey, Earl Hines, Lena Horne, Harry James, Mario Lanza, Guy Lombardo, Glenn Miller, the Mills Brothers, Anne Murray, Dinah Shore, Nancy Sinatra, Kate Smith, Kay Starr, Barbra Streisand, Mel Tormé, Barry White, and Bob Wills. The song was featured in the movie Wings (1927), the Gus Kahn biopic I’ll See You in My Dreams (1951), The Black Marble (1980), and Buddy in 1997. TY2 Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 139. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 124. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 65-70 and 553. Related Links: First posted 4/25/2023.

50 years ago: “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’” hit #1

It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’ Wendell Hall

Writer(s): Wendell Hall (see lyrics here) Released: November 23, 1923 First Charted: January 26, 1924 Peak: 16 US, 12 GA, 12 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 1.0 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Wendell Woods Hall was a “composer, author, poet, singer, guitarist, and radio, film, and television artist” TY2 born in 1896 in St. George, Kansas. Known as “The Red-Headed Music Maker,” he helped popularize the ukulele. TY2 He claimed to write the song “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo,” but actually appropriated a southern folk song dating back to at least the 1870s. TY2 He then added verses and adapted to mid-1920s style. SM He never wrote or recorded another hit single. He died in 1969. The song made him a star on vaudeville and radio and even gained popularity as a soccer song in Britain. WK The song reportedly selling five million copies of the disc and sheet music combined. TY2 The song was also covered by Carl Fenton, the Bar Harbor Society Orchestra, and Jack Linx. DJ It was popular amongst early country artists. DJ The only other charted version, however, was by Ernest Hare and Billy Jones (#11, 1924). PM It was revived in 1952 for the movie Has Anybody Seen My Gal? and used in the 2014 movie Against the Sun. It also been used in vintage animated cartoons, such as a 1930 cartoon called “Noah Knew His Ark” and 1933 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon called “The Plumber.” WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Act Name DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 103. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 133. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 531. WK Wikipedia First posted 1/30/2023.

50 years ago: “Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean” hit #1

Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean Ed Gallagher & Al Shean

Writer(s): Ed Gallagher, Al Shean (see lyrics here) First Charted: October 28, 1922 Peak: 16 US, 12 GA, 12 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 1.0 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The Ziegfeld Follies of 1922 focused on Will Rogers and Gilda Gray. While overall “the musical score was not particularly strong” TY2 it produced the memorable “Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean,” “comedy patter performed by a pair of dialect comedians who had been recruited from vaudeville.” TY2 Each verse of the song was presented as a mini-skit with with the titular men in the song meeting on the street, introducing themselves, telling a story, and ending with a joke. SM The jokes are “typical of the time but also lampoons current fads and events.” WK That pair were Edward Francis Gallagher (born in 1873 in San Francisco) and Al Shean (born Abraham Elieser Adolph Schönberg in 1873 Dornum, Germany). They teamed up in 1912, split in 1914, and reunited in 1920. They became stars in vaudeville and the musical stage. They broke up again for good in 1925. They were best known for their song “Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean,” with uncredited lyrics by Brian Foy. WK The song is officially called “Oh! Mister Gallagher and Mister Shean.” On record, it was a doubled-sided disc running over six minutes total. One side was titled “Positively Mr. Gallagher” and the other side called “Absolutely Mr. Shean.” It ran ten verses. SM Their version reached #1 in 1922, as did another version by Billy Jones & Ernest Hare, although the latter only used two verses of the song. SM It was also recorded by Furman & Nash (#10, 1922), Irving & Jack Kaufman (#12, 1922), and Bing Crosby & Johnny Mercer (#7, 1938). PM Paul Whiteman and Benny Krueger’s orchestras also recorded the song. Al Shean performed the song with Charles Winninger in the movie musical The Great Ziegfeld (1941). Shean did the song again in 1944 with Jack Kenny in Atlantic City. Groucho Marx (Shean’s nephew) and Jackie Gleason performed a version for television in the late 1950s. WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Gallagher & Shean DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Pages 123-4. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 550. WK Wikipedia First posted 1/29/2023.