WAKE UP LITTLE SUSIE
EVERLY BROTHERS
SONGWRITERS: BOUDLEAUX BRYANT & FELICE BRYANT
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: WAKE UP LITTLE SUSIE
LABEL: CADENCE RECORDS
GENRE: ROCK
YEAR: 1957
The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string
acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (February
1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) and Phillip "Phil" Everly(January 19, 1939
– January 3, 2014), the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, and pop, becoming
pioneers of country rock.
The
duo was raised in a musical family, first appearing on radio singing along with
their father Ike Everly and mother Margaret Everly as "The Everly
Family" in the 1940s. When the brothers were still in
high school, they gained the attention of prominent Nashville musicians
like Chet Atkins, who
began to promote them for national attention.
They began writing and recording their own
music in 1956, and their first hit song came in 1957, with "Bye Bye Love",
written by Felice and
Boudleaux Bryant. The song hit Nº 1 in the spring
of 1957, and additional hits would follow through 1958, many of them written by
the Bryants, including "Wake Up
Little Susie", "All I Have to
Do Is Dream", and "Problems".
In 1960, they signed with the major label Warner Bros.
Records and recorded "Cathy's Clown",
written by the brothers themselves, which was their biggest selling single. The
brothers enlisted in the United States
Marine Corps Reserve in 1961, and their output
dropped off, though additional hit singles continued through 1962, with "That's Old Fashioned (That's the Way Love Should Be)"
being their last top-10 hit.
Long-simmering disputes with Wesley Rose, the CEO
of Acuff-Rose Music, which
managed the group, and a growing drug usage in the 1960s, as well as changing
tastes in popular music, led to the group's decline in popularity in its native
U.S., though the brothers continued to release hit singles in the U.K. and
Canada and had many highly successful tours throughout the 1960s. In the early 1970s, the brothers
began releasing solo recordings, and in 1973 they officially broke up. Starting
in 1983, the brothers got back together and continued to perform periodically
until Phil's death in 2014. Don died seven years later.
The
group was highly influential with the music of the generation that followed it.
Many of the top acts of the 1960s were heavily
influenced by the close-harmony singing and acoustic guitar playing of the
Everly Brothers, including the Beatles,
the Beach Boys, the Bee Gees, and Simon &
Garfunkel. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked the Everly Brothers Nº 1 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos
of All Time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class of
1986, and into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001. Don was inducted into the Musicians
Hall of Fame and Museum in 2019,
earning the organization's first Iconic Riff Award for his distinctive rhythm
guitar intro to the Everlys' massive 1957 hit "Wake Up
Little Susie".
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
We've both been sound
asleep
Wake up, little Susie and weep
The movie's over, it's four o'clock
And we're in trouble deep
Wake up, little Susie
Wake up, little Susie
Well, what are we
gonna tell your mama?
What are we gonna tell your pa'?
What are we gonna tell our friends when they say
"Ooh, la, la"?
Wake up, little Susie
Wake up, little Susie
Well, I told your mama that we'd be in by tem
Well, Susie, baby, looks like we goofed again
Wake up, little Susie
Wake up, little Susie
We gotta go home
Wake up, little
Susie, wake up
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
The movie wasn't so
hot
It didn't have much of a plot
We fell asleep, our goose is cooked
Our reputation is shot
Wake up, little Susie
Wake up, little Susie
Well, what are we
gonna tell your mama?
What are we gonna tell your pa?
What are we gonna tell our friends when they say
"Ooh, la, la"?
Wake up, little Susie
Wake up, little Susie
Wake up, little Susie.