Today’s song is “Wake Up Little Susie” by The Everly Brothers. A drive-in theater and a missed curfew set the stage for this fun tune sung from the perspective of a high school boy to his sweetheart.

Fun Facts: 

• The Everly Brothers were a duo consisting of siblings Phil and Don Everly.
• Coming from a musical family, they started singing on the radio while they were still in school, and they were eventually discovered by a Nashville musician named Chet Atkins.
• “Wake Up Little Susie” was written by husband and wife songwriting duo Felice and Boudleaux Bryant.
• In addition to The Everly Brothers’ vocals and guitars, Floyd Chance, also known as Floyd “Lightnin’ Chance, played the double bass.
• The Everly Brothers’ version reached number on the Billboard Pop chart upon its 1957 release.
• “Wake Up Little Susie” performed well, considering it was banned from the Boston radio airwaves for being too suggestive in nature.
• The B-side to this track is “Maybe Tomorrow.”
• Rolling Stone Magazine ranked “Wake Up Little Susie” number 318 on its 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of all Time.
• Simon and Garfunkel, who are noted fans of The Everly Brothers, released a cover of the song in 1981.

Lyrics:

(Musixmatch)

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, we told your mama that we’d be in by ten

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