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.
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:
