Showing posts with label Haydn Quartet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Haydn Quartet. 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.

at 2 comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

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.

at 1 comment:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

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.

at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

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.
at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Billy Murray: Top 100 Songs

First posted 11/26/2017; updated 5/25/2019.

Tenor singer known as “The Denver Nightingale.” Born William Thomas Murray on 5/25/1877 to Irish immigrants in Philadelphia, PA. His family moved to Denver, Colorado in 1882. Died 8/17/1954. His popularity lasted through the first quarter of the 20th century, a time when, what he called his “hammering” style of shouting into an acoustic recording horn, was the technology prior to the rise of the electric microphone, which ushered in the era of crooners.

He joined a vaudeville troupe in 1893 and performed in minstrel shows early in his career. He started recording regularly in New York in 1903. He became the definitive interpreter of George M. Cohan, recording the hit version of nearly every Cohan song from 1905 on. In addition to his solo recordings, he worked with the Haydn Quartet (1898-1914), Columbia Comedy Trio (1907), with Ada Jones (1907-22), American Quartet (1910-25?) and the Heidelberg Quintet (1911-15).

Murray has eight songs (“You’re a Grand Old Flag,” “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” “Give My Regards to Broadway,” “By the Light of the Silvery Moon,” Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis,” “Yankee Doodle Boy,” “Casey Jones,” and “In My Merry Oldsmobile”) featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Pre-Rock Era, 1890-1953.

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.

AQ = American Quartet, HQ = Haydn Quartet, AJ = Ada Jones. Songs which hit the top of the U.S. pop charts are noted (#1).

DMDB Top 1%:

1. You’re a Grand Old Flag (aka “The Grand Old Rag”) (1906) #1
2. Take Me Out to the Ball Game (w/ HQ, 1908) #1
3. Give My Regards to Broadway (1905) #1
4. By the Light of the Silvery Moon (w/ HQ, 1910) #1
5. Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis (1904) #1
6. Yankee Doodle Boy (1905) #1
7. Casey Jones (w/ AQ, 1910) #1
8. In My Merry Oldsmobile (1905) #1
9. Harrigan (1907) #1

10. Oh, You Beautiful Doll (w/ AQ, 1911) #1
11. Come Josephine in My Flying Machine (w/ AJ, 1911) #1
12. Pretty Baby (1916) #1
13. Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine (w/ AJ, 1908) #1
14. That Old Gang of Mine (w/ Ed Smalle, 1923) #1
15. Navajo (1904) #1
16. K-K-K-Katy (Stammering Song) (1918)
17. Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee (w/ AJ, 1912) #1

DMDB Top 5%:

18. Everybody Works But Father (1905) #1
19. Come Take a Trip in My Air Ship (1905) #1
20. Let’s Take an Old-Fashioned Walk (w/ AJ, 1907) #1

21. I Love a Piano (1916) #1
22. Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1911)
23. Shine on, Harvest Moon (w/ AJ, 1909) #1
24. Under the Anheuser Busch (1904)
25. Alexander (Don’t You Love Your Baby No More?) (1904) #1
26. Under Any Old Flag at All (1908) #1
27. When We Are M-A-R-R-I-E-D (w/ AJ, 1908) #1
28. Teasing (I Was Only Teasing You) (1904)
29. Waltz Me Around Again, Willie (w/ HQ, 1906)
30. Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway (1906)

31. I’ll See You in C-U-B-A (1920)
32. He’d Have to Get Under, Get Out to Get Under, to Fix Up His Automobile (1914)
33. Play a Simple Melody (w/ Edna Brown, 1916)
34. Bedelia (1904) #1
35. Carrie (Carrie Marry Harry) (1910) #1
36. Make Believe (w/ AJ, 1908)
37. No Wedding Bells for Me (1907)
38. All Alone (w/ AJ, 1911)
39. Down by the O-hi-O (I’ve Got the Sweetest Little O, My! O!) (w/ Billy Jones, 1921)
40. Camptown Races (Gwine to Run All Night) (1911)

41. I’m Afraid to Come Home in the Dark (1908)
42. Cheyenne (Shy Anne) (1906)
43. The Gaby Glide (1912)
44. He’s a Devil in His Own Home Town (1914)
45. College Life (1906)
46. I’ve Taken Quite a Fancy to You (w/ AJ, 1908)
47. He Goes to Church on Sunday (1907)
48. Smarty (w/ AJ, 1908)
49. Over There (1917)
50. Wouldn’t You Like to Have Me for a Sweetheart? (w/ AJ, 1908) #1

51. Up in a Cocoanut Tree (1903)
52. When You’re All Dressed Up and No Place to Go (1914)
53. What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For? (w/ AJ, 1917)
54. It Looks Like a Big Night Tonight (1908)
55. For Me and My Gal (1917)
56. San Antonio (Cowboy Song) (1907)
57. What’s the Matter with Father? (1910)
58. Won’t You Be My Honey? (w/ AJ, 1907)
59. Bagdad (1913)
60. The Vamp (w/ Joseph C. Smith & Harry MacDonough, 1919)

61. They Were All Out of Step But Jim (1918)
62. I’m Awfully Glad I Met You (w/ AJ, 1909)
63. I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now (1910)
64. Tessie (You Are the Only Only) (1903)
65. I Can’t Do the Sum (1904)
66. On San Francisco Bay (1907)
67. Take Me Around Again (1907)
68. Not Because Your Hair Is Curly (1906)

DMDB Top 10%:

69. I Wish I Had a Girl (1909)
70. It Had to Be You (w/ Aileen Stanley, 1924)

71. Yes! We Have No Bananas (w/ Great White Way Orchestra, 1923)
72. Just As We Used To (1919)
73. There’s No Moon Like the Honeymoon (w/ AJ, 1908)
74. Any Place the Old Flag Flies (1912)
75. The Twentieth Century Rag (1914)
76. Alcoholic Blues (1919)
77. Take Me Up with You, Dearie (w/ HQ, 1909)
78. After You’ve Gone (w/ Gladys Rice, 1919)
79. Ain’t It Funny What a Difference a Few Hours Can Make (1904)
80. The Little Ford Rambled Right Along (1915)

81. Keep on Smiling (w/ HQ, 1908)
82. Streets of New York (1907)
83. Dance of the Grizzly Bear (w/ AQ, 1911)
84. Because I’m Married Now (1907)
85. Any Little Girl That’s a Nice Girl Is the Right Little Girl for Me (w/ the AQ, 1910)
86. The Wedding Glide (w/ AJ, 1912)
87. My Sweetie Went Away (w/ Ed Salle, 1923)
88. Bon Bon Buddy (1908)
89. The Game of Peek-a-Boo (I’d Like to See a Little More of You) (1907)
90. It’s Nice to Have a Sweetheart (w/ AJ, 1907)

91. Dixie Land, I Love You (1909)
92. Stumbling (1922)
93. Yankee Doodle Blues (w/ Ed Smalle, 1922)
94. It’s Great to Be a Soldier Man (1907)
95. Hello Hawaii, How Are You? (1916)
96. I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight (w/ Henry Burr, 1926)
97. The Hat My Father Wore on St. Patrick’s Day (w/ HQ, 1909)
98. Hinky Dinky Parlay Voo (Mademoiselle from Armentieres) (w/ Ed Smalle, 1924)
99. Keep on the Sunny Side (1906)
100. Are You from Dixie? ‘Cause I’m from Dixie Too (w/ Irving Kaufman, 1916)

Awards:

at 1 comment:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Friday, January 20, 2012

Today in Music (1912): Harry MacDonough “Down by the Old Mill Stream” hit #1

Down by the Old Mill Stream

Harry MacDonough

Writer(s): Tell Taylor (see lyrics here)

First Charted: December 11, 1911

Peak: 17 US, 13 GA, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.)

Sales (in millions): 6.0 (sheet music)

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

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

With hundreds of songs under his belt, Tell Taylor was “one of the powerhouses in musical composition during the early 20th century,” PS but of all his songs, probably none is more familiar than “Down by the Old Mill Stream.” He wrote it in 1908 while sitting on the banks of the Blanchard River in Ohio, WK although it has been reported that it was modeled on “Down by the Old Stream,” a Joseph P. Skelly song from 1874. SS The lyrical focus is on someone older looking back on a lifelong romance, but true to form for post-1900 songs, it focuses more on reality than sentiment. SS

Musically, MacDonough’s version was unique in that he sang the first half with an orchestra, but then the orchestra is replaced by a quartet – most likely the Haydn Quartet, of which MacDonough was a member. The rest of the song is then handled a cappella by the quartet. SS That combination of four-part harmony alongside the “beautifully flowing melody with romantic lyrics” PS made the song a barbershop quartet favorite RCG and arguably the song that defines that genre. PS

The song was one of only four from 1890-1954 to sell 5 million in sheet music. PM One of those, “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” shares other traits with “Stream.” Both songs were published in 1910 and first charted in 1911. The first chart versions of each were by Arthur Clough. Usually the first charted version of a song was the biggest, but the Peerless Quartet and Harry MacDonough each topped the chart for seven weeks with, respectively, their recordings of “Sweetheart” and “Old Mill Stream,” leaving poor Arthur Clough the dubious distinction of also-ran status – twice.

“The song was originally published with not only the piano version but also with an arrangement for male vocal quartet.” PS The song resurfaced in the 1936 film Her Master’s Voice JA and the Mills Brothers revived the song in the 1940s “with a more swinging style to it.” RCG In 1965, Alvin and the Chipmunks recorded the song and Snoopy played the song in the 2000 animated special It’s the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown. WK

Resources:

  • DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Harry MacDonough
  • JA David A. Jasen. (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 51.
  • PS ParlorSongs.com
  • RCG RimChiGuy.com The Old Songs (1900-1929)
  • SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 436.
  • PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Page 634.
  • WK Wikipedia

First posted 12/11/2016; last updated 7/25/2022.

at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Billy Murray, the biggest selling sensation of the pioneer era, dies: August 17, 1954

Check the Dave’s Music Database Facebook page for daily music-related posts. Also check out books by Dave Whitaker, including the collection of past blog entries, No One Needs 21 Versions of “Purple Haze”…And Other Essays from a Musical Obsessive.



He was born in Philadelphia, Pennysylvania on May 25, 1877 and raised in Denver, Colorado. His death on August 17, 1954, marked a last hurrah for the pre-1920s pioneer era of music. He has been called the most sensational record seller of that time. At a time before radio ruled the waves and recording technology remained primitive, Billy Murray’s success gave the fledgling recording industry the credibility to develop into a popular form of entertainment. “In an era dominated by the operatically-influenced singing style, he helped to popularize a more natural approach. He was an incredibly versatile artist” JL whose “records serve as excellent representatives of the music and events of American culture.” DN The recording careers of other 20th century musical giants such as Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and the Beatles pale in comparison.

He charted more than 200 hits and 30 number ones are songs as a solo artist and as lead with the Haydn Quartet, the American Quartet, the Columbia Comedy Trio, and the Heidelberg Quintet. He also recorded numerous duets with Ada Jones. Among those songs are a number of classics which make the Dave’s Music Database list of the top 1000 songs of the 20th century. These include “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis” (1904), “In My Merry Oldsmobile” (1905), “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (with the Haydn Quartet, 1908), “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” (with the Haydn Quartet, 1910), “Casey Jones” (with the American Quartet, 1910), “Come, Josephine, in My Flying Machine” (with the American Quartet & Ada Jones, 1911), “Oh, You Beautiful Doll” (with the American Quartet, 1911), and “K-K-K-Katy (The Stammering Song)” (1918).

He recorded many of the definitive versions of songs from famed songwriter George M. Cohan. Among them are five which make the Dave’s Music Database list of the top 1000 songs of the 20th century. Those are “Yankee Doodle Boy” (1905), “Give My Regards to Broadway” (1905), “You’re a Grand Old Flag” (1906), “Harrigan” (1907), and “Over There” (with the American Quartet, 1917). The first two are also in the Grammy Hall of Fame while “Flag” is also in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.



Murray’s highest-ranked song according to the DMDB


Resources and Related Links:



at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Friday, April 23, 2010

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:

Related Links:

First posted 4/23/2012; last updated 12/15/2022.

at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)