Think of the Everly Brothers, and probably several songs come to mind. But perhaps their most popular is “Wake Up Little Susie,” a song that went to No. 1 on the country charts on October 14, 1957.
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The song is off of The Everly Brothers, the band’s first studio album. It became the duo’s, made up of siblings Don and Phil Everly, second No. 1 single, following “Bye Bye Love”. But it’s “Wake Up Little Susie” that is their first song to hit the top of both the pop and country charts.
“Wake Up Little Susie” is written by the legendary husband-and-wife duo, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. The Everly Brothers liked the song so much, it also became the title track of their 1969 album. That record also includes “Bye Bye Love”, “When Will I Be Loved”, “Brand New Heartache”, and more.
The Controversy Behind The Everly Brothers Classic, “Wake Up Little Susie”
“Wake Up Little Susie” is about a teenage couple who fell asleep while watching a movie, waking up in the early morning hours. The song begins with, “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” now seems innocent and relatively wholesome. But it wasn’t that way in 1957. The Boston Catholic Diocese banned some radio stations from playing the song, calling it too controversial.
“I remember when it happened,” Don Everly recalls to the Chicago Tribune. “They called and said it had been banned in Boston. I said, ‘What?’ It’s what people read into it, isn’t it?”
“Phil and I sang pretty much innocent stuff,” he added. “Our songs were about relationships. Looking back over the lyric content of our music, I’m basically very proud of it. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. There’s nothing sleazy or off-color in there.”
“Wake Up Little Susie” became a labor of love for the Bryants, who made sure everything was perfect for the Everly Brothers.
“We persevered with ‘Wake Up Little Susie’ for many hours,” Boudleaux Bryant recalls (via Songfacts). “I started writing one night, kept trying to get my ideas down, but it just wouldn’t happen. Finally, I woke Felice, who took one listen to what I had so far achieved, and came up with the final touches that I couldn’t get. The Everlys liked the song, but like me, had problems with getting it right in the studio.”
Even though they were relatively new to the music scene, the Everly Brothers had an idea that “Wake Up Little Susie” was special, which is why they worked tirelessly to make sure they got it right.
“They worked a whole three-hour session on that one song and had to give up,” Boudleaux Bryant shares. “They just couldn’t get it right. We all trooped back to the studio the next day and got it down first take. That’s the way it happens sometimes.”
Photo by Michael Levin/Corbis via Getty Images
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