{"id":607827,"date":"2026-04-26T17:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T17:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/607827\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T17:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T17:44:09","slug":"the-everly-brothers-had-a-big-hit-with-this-innocent-song-even-though-it-was-banned-at-some-radio-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/607827\/","title":{"rendered":"The Everly Brothers Had a Big Hit With This Innocent Song, Even Though It Was Banned at Some Radio Stations"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1957, The Everly Brothers<\/a>, made up of siblings Donald Everly and Phillip Everly, released \u201cWake Up Little Susie<\/a>\u201c. The song, written by husband-and-wife songwriting duo Felice Bryant and Boudleaux Bryant, became The Everly Brothers\u2019 second No. 1 single and their first on the pop charts.<\/p>\n

But the success of \u201cWake Up Little Susie\u201d is even more surprising since it was banned at some radio stations. A song about a high school student who accidentally fell asleep at his girlfriend Susie\u2019s house, the subject matter was deemed too risqu\u00e9 for some radio stations in the late 50s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWake Up Little Susie\u201d says, \u201cWake up, little Susie, wake up \/ Wake up, little Susie, wake up \/ We\u2019ve both been sound asleep \/ Wake up, little Susie, and weep \/ The movie\u2019s over, it\u2019s four o\u2019clock \/ And we\u2019re in trouble deep.\u201d<\/p>\n

One prominent radio station in Boston banned \u201cWake Up Little Susie\u201d, along with a few other stations. Their refusal to play \u201cWake Up Little Susie\u201d only helped the song achieve its massive success, at least according to the Bryants.<\/p>\n

How Felice Bryant and Boudleaux Bryant Wrote \u201cWake Up Little Susie\u201d for The Everly Brothers<\/p>\n

\u201cWake Up Little Susie\u201d might seem like a light-hearted tune, but the two songwriters took it very seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started writing one night, kept trying to get my ideas down, but it just wouldn\u2019t happen,\u201d Boudleaux Bryant recalls<\/a>. \u201cFinally, I woke Felice, who took one listen to what I had so far achieved and came up with the final touches that I couldn\u2019t get. The Everlys liked the song, but like me, had problems with getting it right in the studio. They worked a whole three-hour session on that one song and had to give up. They just couldn\u2019t get it right. We all trooped back to the studio the next day and got it down, first take. That\u2019s the way it happens sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to \u201cWake Up Little Susie\u201d, Felice Bryant and Boudleaux Bryant wrote numerous other songs for The Everly Brothers, including \u201cBye Bye Love\u201d. The song is the first single from The Everly Brothers\u2019 eponymous debut. \u201cBye Bye Love\u201d also became their first chart-topping country single. Felice Bryant and Boudleaux Bryant also wrote \u201cProblems\u201d, \u201cPoor Jenny\u201d, \u201cTake A Message To Mary\u201d, and others. But \u201cWake Up Little Susie\u201d remained a favorite among the songwriters.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing out of their mouths, it was pure honey,\u201d Felice Bryant tells Rolling Stone<\/a>. \u201cAnything they put their voices on seemed to blend like custard. I think they could sing the telephone book to me. The blend was unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo by Keystone\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1957, The Everly Brothers, made up of siblings Donald Everly and Phillip Everly, released \u201cWake Up Little…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[2617,88,131553,216],"class_list":["post-607827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-classic-rock","tag-entertainment","tag-everly-brothers","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}