100 years ago: “Give My Regards to Broadway” went to #1

Give My Regards to Broadway Billy Murray

Writer(s): George M. Cohan (see lyrics here) First Charted: June 17, 1905 Peak: 15 US, 3 GA (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.11 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: George M. Cohan was an untrained musician who “professed to write only simple songs with simple harmonies and limited ranges” PS “and a melody line that rarely exceeded four beats.” LW “His brilliance was in making them attractive and memorable.” LW He became one of the most multi-talented men in musical theater. In nearly all his productions, he was “composer, lyricist, librettist, playwright, actor, director, and producer.” TY2 After two flops on Broadway, Cohan found success with Little Johnny Jones, which was inspired by real-life jockey Tod Sloan. Johnny Jones travels to Britain to ride his horse in the English Debry and is accused of throwing the race. It turns out he was framed by an American gambler and his name is cleared. Johnny sings “Give My Regards to Broadway” in a mournful tone as he watches his family leaving by boat but he has to stay behind to clear his name. Once his name has been cleared, Johnny performs it in “an exuberant song-and-dance style.” TY2 It “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. With “music and melody [that] seem to fit any era and transcend fads and styles” PS “Regards” is “arguably…the most memorable and greatest hit from the 1900 – 1910 decade.” PS It has proved to be “one of those enduring favorites that never gets old or outdated.” PS It “has become one of the unofficial anthems of the American theatrical industry.” TY2 Billy Murray and S.H. Dudley both charted with the song in 1905, taking it to #1 and 4 respectively. Eddie Buzzell sang the song in its first screen appearance for the 1929 film version of Little Johnny Jones. It was also used in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1941), Give My Regards to Broadway (1948), Jolson Sings Again (1948) and With a Song in My Heart (1952). The 1968 play George M! featured Joel Grey singing it in his portrayal of Cohan. Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 64. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 16. PS ParlorSongs.com TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Pages 25-6. Related Links: First posted 7/15/2014; last updated 12/13/2022.

Billy Murray Anthology released

Anthology: The Denver Nightingale Billy Murray

Released: April 27, 2018 Recorded: 1903-1940 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: traditional pop

Tracks: Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. The Way to Kiss a Girl [1:58] (1903) Bedelia [2:13] (1/23/1904, 13 US, 1 GA) Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis [2:11] (7/23/1904, 19 US, 1 GA) Alexander (Don’t You Love Your Baby No More?) [2:11] (9/19/1904, 13 US, 4 GA) Come Take a Trip in My Air-Ship [2:15] (1/4/1905, 14 US, 1 GA) Yankee Doodle Boy [2:34] (2/25/1905, 18 US, 1 GA) Under the Anheuser Bush [2:32] (2/20/1904, 2 US, 4 GA) Give My Regards to Broadway [2:33] (6/17/1905, 15 US, 3 GA) In My Merry Oldsmobile [2:52] (10/14/1905, 17 US, 2 GA) Everybody Works But Father [1:49] (12/23/1905, 13 US, 3 GA) Youre a Grand Old Flag (aka “The Grand Old Rag”) [2:46] (5/5/1906, 110 US, 1 GA) He Goes to Church on Sunday [2:17] (7/6/1907, 2 US, 6 GA) Harrigan [2:29] (9/14/1907, 19 US, 1 GA) Shine on, Harvest Moon (with Ada Jones) [2:07] (5/15/1909, 15 US, 1 GA) Carrie (Carrie Marry Harry) [3:05] (1/15/1910, 12 US, 4 GA) By the Light of the Silvery Moon (with the Haydn Quartet) [2:50] (4/9/1910, 19, 1 GA) Casey Jones (with the American Quartet) [2:46] (6/18/1910, 111 US, 3 GA) The Cubanola Glide [2:30] (6/4/1910, 6 US, 2 GA) He’d Hae to Get Under, Get Out, and Get Under to Fix Up His Automobile [3:15] (2/17/1914, 2 US, 1 GA) He’s a Devil in His Own Home Town [2:50] (7/4/1914, 2 US, 2 GA) I Love a Piano [2:46] (4/8/1916, 11 US) Pretty Baby [2:40] (10/7/1916, 11 US, 1 GA) K-K-K-Katy (Stammering Song) [2:58] (6/1/1918, 3 US, 1 GA) He Went in Like a Lion and Came Out Like a Lamb [2:56] (6/19/1920, 10 US) You’ve Got to See Mama Ev’ry Night (with Aileen Stanley) [2:57] (6/30/1923, 11 US) That Old Gang of Mine (with Ed Smalle) [3:04] (9/23/1923, 16 US, 1 GA) Charley, My Boy (with the International Novelty Orchestra) [3:11] (1924) I Faw Down and Go Boom! (with the Midnight Ramblers) [2:55] (1928) I Wonder What Amos ‘N Andy Will Do Tomorrow Night (with Walter Scanlan) [3:05] (1930) It’s the Same Old Shillelagh (with Harry’s Tavern Band) [2:08] (1940) Total Running Time: 78:56

Rating: 4.728 out of 5.00 (average of 10 ratings) Quotable: Billy Murray “set a standard for natural, conversational singing that informed popular music long after he himself passed from the scene.” – William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Billy Murray may have been the best-selling recording artist of the first quarter of the 20th century, but his name and work had fallen into obscurity before his death in 1954.” AMG “He remained forgotten in the LP era and for the first decades of the CD era. But this disc belatedly brings him into the digital realm, and it does so with spectacular success.” AMG “Murray’s excellent articulation and comic timing made him a perfect singer for the acoustic era of recording, allowing him to be understood and appreciated despite the technical limitations. He led the way for such successors as Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor, and he set a standard for natural, conversational singing that informed popular music long after he himself passed from the scene. This long-overdue compilation presents the highlights of his extensive catalog; there is plenty more where it came from.” AMG He was “one of the best interpreters of the music of George M. Cohan—America’s preeminent songwriter.” AZ This includes the songs Yankee Doodle Boy, Give My Regards to Broadway, You’re a Grand Old Flag, and Harrigan. “From rousing anthems to biting wit, Billy had a knack for entertaining as a solo artist and with bands.” AZ That means that in addition to his solo recordings, there are representations here of songs he recorded with the American and Haydn Quartets as well as duo efforts with Ada Jones, Aileen Stanley, Ed Smalle, and Walter Scanlan. This collection gathers 30 songs from throughout his career, spanning from 1903 to 1940. Given the chart success of so many of these songs, this set is on par with the greatest compilations of all time, such as the Beatles’ One and Elvis Presley’s 30 #1 Hits. Seventeen of these songs reached #1. Another seven were top-ten hits. Six of the songs here are featured in the Dave’s Music Database book The Top 100 Songs of the Pre-Rock Era. “Murray had so many popular recordings that a single disc could not hope to encompass them, but given the time limitations the producers have done the best possible job.” AMG In addition to some of Murray’s most important recordings, this collection also includes “the rare brown wax cylinder of The Way to Kiss a Girl, from one of Billy’s first recording sessions.” AZ It works its way through his more popular years, and then his “decline in the late 1920s and ‘30s and his attempted comeback in the early ‘40s with It’s the Same Old Shillelagh, performed with Harry’s Tavern Band, “giving a full sense of his recording career.” AMG Notes: Originally released in 2002, this was remastered in 2018 and a “24-page booklet contains a biographical essay and song notes by Murray biographer Frank Hoffmann and a reminiscence of Murray by a man who knew him, Quentin Riggs.” AZ

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Billy Murray AMG All Music Guide review by William Ruhlmann AZ Amazon AR Archeophone Records First posted 2/9/2022.