Over 100 Year Old Charts - the most accurate listings of their kind!

 

 

CHRISTMAS TIME HITS 100 YEARS AGO - DECEMBER 1908

1. SUNBONNET SUE- Harry McDonough & Haydn Quartet

2. I WISH I HAS A GIRL - Grace La Rue/Billy Murray 

3. CUDDLE UP A LITTLE CLOSER- Ada Jones & Billy Murray

4. IT LOOKS LIKE A BIG NIGHT TONIGHT- Billy Murray

5. DOWN IN JUNGLE TOWN - Collins & Harlan

6. BON BON BUDDY - Billy Murray 

7.MY BRUDDAH SYVLEST - Mabel Hite/Collins & Harlan

8.IF I HAD A THOUSAND LIVES TO LIVE- Alan Waterous/Nellie Vesta

9. DON'T TAKE ME HOME- Eddie Morton/Bob Roberts

10.THE GLOW-WORM - Lucy Isabel Marsh

 

For your info The No.1 song came from the revue 'School Boys And School Girls, in which it was performed by its composer Gus Edwards.The only one of the songs to return tothe charts in the last 60 years was 'The Glow-Worm', which with slightly amended lyrics was a UK hit for the Mills Brothers in 1953. Top act of the days was 'The Denver Nightingale' Billy Murray who was actually born in Philadelphia (of Irish parents). Apart from 169 hit songs as a soloist, he also had many many more as lead singer of such groups as the Haydn Quartet, The American Quartet and the Heidelberg Quintet.


 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

I have been asked to list the best sellers for NOVEMBER 1918 - the month World War I actually ended. Lest we forget - these were the hits on Armistice day.

This is a Top 20 of the most popular songs but to make it more like the kind of chart we are used to, I have added the best selling popular recording/s at the time. The calculations are based on information from the publications Talking Machine World and The Music Trades.

 

NOVEMBER 1918

 

  1. SMILES -  Joseph C. Smith's Orchestra
  2. EVERYTHING IS PEACHES DOWN IN GEORGIA - American Quartet
  3. OH! HOW I HATE TO GET UP IN THE MORNING - Arthur Fields
  4. OH! HOW I WISH I COULD SLEEP UNTIL MY DADDY COMES HOME - Henry Burr
  5. ROCK-A-BYE YOUR BABY WITH A DIXIE MELODY - Al Jolson
  6. I'M ALWAYS CHASING RAINBOWS - Charles W. Harrison
  7. K-K-K-KATY  - Billy Murray
  8. WHEN YOU COME BACK (AND YOU WILL COME BACK) -  Raymond Dixon & Orpheus Quartet
  9. AFTER YOU'VE GONE - Marion Harris / Albert Campbell & Henry Burr
  10. OH! FRENCHY - Arthur Fields
  11. OUI, OUI, MARIE - Arthur Fields
  12. HINDUSTAN - Joseph C. Smith's Orchestra / Albert Campbell & Henry Burr
  13. MY BELGIAN ROSE - Charles Hart & Elliott Shaw/ Albert Campbell & Henry Burr
  14. MAMMY'S CHOCOLATE SOLDIER -  Marion Harris
  15. TIGER RAG - Original Dixieland Jazz Band
  16. DEAR LITTLE BOY OF MINE - Charles W. Harrison / Elsie Baker
  17. WATERS OF VENICE - Albert Campbell & Henry Burr
  18. ROSES OF PICARDY - John McCormack/Lambert Murphy
  19. BEAUTIFUL OHIO - Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orch / Henry Burr
  20. GOOD MORNING, MR. ZIP-ZIP-ZIP - Arthur Field/Eugene Buckley

 

The best known artist to later record buyers is, of course, Al Jolson. However, the biggest artists of the time were Billy Murray, Henry Burr, The American Quartet and the Irish born tenor John McCormack. You may also note that the chart contains the first jazz band on record, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band whose 'Tiger Rag' was toping the chart on the day the war ended on November 11th. Interestingly, two war-related hits dropped off the chart this month: HELLO CENTRAL, GIVE ME NO-MANS-LAND by Al Jolson and  IF HE CAN FIGHT LIKE HE CAN LOVE, GOOD NIGHT, GERMANY by The Farber Sisters.

 


 
For your info, the chart topping song 'Smiles' was written by J.Will Callahan and and Lee G.Roberts and came from the musical The Passing Show Of 1918, which opened three months earlier, and in the show it was sung by Nell Carrington. The vocalist on the chart topping version was Canadian tenor Harry MacDonough, who was a chart regular between 1899-1918 and was probably best known for his renditions of 'Shine On, Harvest Moon' and 'Down By The Old Mill Stream'.

 

              A 1918 Billboard advert for the latest technology!

 

 
Many thanks go to Edward Foote Gardner