- Charlie Brown (song)
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"Charlie Brown" Single by The Coasters B-side "Three Cool Cats" Released January 1959 Recorded December 11, 1958 Genre Doo wop, pop, R&B Label Atco 6132 The Coasters singles chronology "The Shadow Knows"
(1958)"Charlie Brown"
(1959)"Along Came Jones"
(1959)"Charlie Brown" is a popular Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller song that was a top-ten hit for The Coasters in the spring of 1959 (released in January, coupled with "Three Cool Cats," Atco 6132).[1] It went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts, and was the first of three top-ten hits for the Coasters that year. It is best known for the phrase, "Why's everybody always pickin' on me?"
Towards the end of the bridge of the song, the words "Yeah, You!" were recorded at half speed, so the voices would play back at a higher pitch. King Curtis plays the tenor saxophone during the instrumental and the fade out of the record.
There is no connection between this song and the character Charlie Brown from the comic strip Peanuts, though the PBS special American Masters: Charles Schulz seems to suggest a connection.
There have been over 80 versions of the song recorded, including one by British comedy actor Bernard Bresslaw and a German language version (as "Charly Brown") by Hans Blum, both in 1959. Deep River Boys with Mikkel Flagstad's orchestra recorded their version in Oslo on August 25, 1960; it was released on the extended play En aften på "Casino Non Stop" 1960 (HMV 7EGN 36). Guy Mitchell released a cover version of this song.[2] In 1995, the song was recorded in a ska-punk version by Voodoo Glow Skulls, on their album Firme.[3]
Lyrics
The lyric "Who calls the English teacher 'Daddy-o'?" is most likely a reference to the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle, in which high school students mock the surname of a new teacher, Richard Dadier (Glenn Ford), changing "Dadier" to "Daddy-o," a then-current slang term (usually genial) for a male friend or a father.
In pop culture
The song was used in the end credits of the ultra-violent 1980's short film Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown, though in the film it is miscredited to The Platters rather than The Coasters.
In the film Jack, the title character (played by Robin Williams) and his friends, including his teacher (played by Bill Cosby), sing this song in their tree house. The weight in the tree house is so great with the kids and the two adult-sized people that the tree house starts to creak. While they are singing the song, a butterfly lands on the tree house and the house collapses. Once they are on the ground, Jack uses the tag line of the song and says, "Why is everybody always fallin' on me?"
The song was included in the musical revue, Smokey Joe's Cafe.
References
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