100 years ago: “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” hit #1

By the Light of the Silvery Moon Billy Murray & the Haydn Quartet

Writer(s): Edward Madden, Gus Edwards (see lyrics here) First Charted: December 1909 Peak: 19 US, 13 GA, 16 SM (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: 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 The song had much the same sentiment as “Shine On, Harvest Moon” from a year earlier. In “Silvery Moon,” the singer wishes for a silvery moon by which to spoon with his girl, hoping he can croon a love song to her and she’ll agree to marry him in June. 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. The song first surfaced in vaudeville in the School Boys and Girls revue. Child star Georgie Price, a member of Gus Edwards, troup of children, sang it. TY2 Lillian Lorraine also interporolated it into the Ziegfeld Follies of 1909. TY2 In 1909 and 1910, three versions of the song charted. The Peerless Quartet and Ada Jones each got to #2, but Billy Murray’s recording with the Haydn Quartet hit #1 and was one of the top five hits of the decade. TY2 On their version, Murray sang the verses, slow and deliberately, and the quartet came in on the chorus. SM As big as their song was – it spent 9 weeks at the summit – it wasn’t the biggest hit for either Murray or the Haydn Quartet. In 1909, the Haydn Quartet peaked at #1 for eleven weeks with “Put on Your Old Grey Bonnett.” Murray’s biggest hit was just around the corner – just a couple months later, his take on “Casey Jones” with the American Quartet would also spend eleven weeks on top. PM “Silvery Moon” proved to have stamina, hitting #12 for Ray Noble in 1942 PM and becoming a glee club and barbershop quartet standard. RCG It was also in the movies Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), The Birth of the Blues (1941), Babes on Broadway (1942), Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943), Sunbonnet Sue (1945), The Jolson Story (1946), Always Leave Them Laughing (1949), and Two Weeks with Love (1950). TY2 In 1953, Doris Day and Gordon MacRae sang the song in the movie musical . Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 29. 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 47. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954 (1986). Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Page 481. Related Links: First posted 4/23/2012; last updated 12/15/2022.

50 years ago: Al Jolson hit #1 with “California, Here I Come”

California, Here I Come Al Jolson with Isham Jones’ Orchestra

Writer(s): Joseph Meyer, Buddy DeSylva, Al Jolson (see lyrics here) First Charted: April 1, 1924 Peak: 16 US, 14 GA, 16 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 1.0 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.55 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Born Asa Yoelson in Russia in 1886, Al Jolson became “one of the greatest popular entertainers in American history.” PM He became a successful minstrel singer, vaudevillian performer, and Broadway star thanks to “his dramatic vocal style, extraordinary stage presence, and personal rapport with audiences.” PM His show Bombo opened in 1921 but three years later he was still tweaking by adding “California Here I Come.” TY2 By that time the show had left New York City on tour. Jolson was listed as a songwriter, but likely had nothing to do with the actual writing. He negotiated with the pubisher to have his name and picture added to the sheet music for $5000. This allowed him to get royalties from the song. TY2 Lyricist Buddy DeSylva (who also played ukulele on the song) and composer Joseph Meyer went along since having Jolson’s name attached to the song “practically guaranteed its success.” TY2 It was Jolson’s sixteenth of 23 chart-topping songs. PM He recorded the song with the Isham Jones’ Orchestra. It is frequently called California’s unofficial state song. WK Georgie Price (#7, 1924), the California Ramblers (#10, 1924, and Claude Hopkins (#17, 1933) also charted with the song. PM Freddy Cannon, Ray Charles, Cliff Edwards, Fletcher Henderson, and Tom Waits have all recorded the song. WK Jolson revived the song in 1939 in the film Rose of Washington Square, in The Jolson Story in 146, and Jolson Sings Again in 1949. DJ It was also used in the films Lucky Boy (1929), the W.C. Fields movie It’s a Gift (1934), John Wayne’s film Back to Bataan (1945), With a Song in My Heart (1952), and The Saddest Music in the World (2003). Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 31. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Page 131. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 233-5 and 482. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 4/25/2023.