September 2, 2026, will mark 69 years since The Everly Brothers’ hit single, ‘Wake Up Little Susie,’ arrived on record store shelves.
Released in 1957, the song reached number one on the Billboard pop chart and the Cashbox bestselling records chart.
Written by husband-and-wife duo Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, the song ranked #318 on Rolling Stone‘s Greatest Songs of All Time.
In an interview with Country Music People, Boudleaux reflected on the songwriting process: “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 as to what I had so far achieved and came up with the final touches I couldn’t get.”
However, after spending a tiresome three hours in the studio recording ‘Wake Up Little Susie,’ The Everly Brothers had to give up for the day, as Boudleaux recalls: “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.”
The pair had already written the brothers’ first number one single, ‘Bye Bye Love,’ and would go on to write the incomparable ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’ one year later.
Drive-in disaster
Told from the POV of a high school boy talking to his girlfriend Susie, listeners follow the pair’s panic after falling asleep at a drive-in movie and waking up six hours past the girl’s curfew.
Worried about their reputations, the boy sweats over how they are going to get out of the mess: “Well, what are we gonna tell your mama; What are we gonna tell your pa?”
But the innocent tale of two young kids getting caught in a heap of bother was misread by one city…
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Banned in Boston
Labelled suggestive, the Boston Archdiocese pushed local radio stations to remove ‘Wake Up Little Susie’ from air.
Reflecting on the phone call where he found out the track had been banned, Don, the eldest brother, told the Chicago Tribune: “I remember when it happened. They called and said it had been banned in Boston. I said, ‘What’. It’s what people read into it isn’t it.”
The brothers join ‘Great Balls of Fire,’ and ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus’ in the club of banned songs from the decade.
Ironically, the version of ‘Wake Up Little Susie’ that was released had already been watered down.
“The movie wasn’t so hot,” was originally “he’ll kill me like as not,” but the Bryants thought it hinted that the pair were not really sleeping.
Nevertheless, Boudleaux Bryant was reportedly thrilled that the single was warped with controversy, believing it would increase sales.
Don even poked fun at the ban almost two decades later when playing at Boston Common in 1986.
He introduced the tune as “a song that was banned in this city in 1957,” with a grin on his face.
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Untarnished legacy
The controversy did the brothers no damage, with the musical duo going on to become rock and roll legends, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2017.
And it clearly did not ruin the song’s reputation either, with the 1957 hit being one of the Everly Brothers’ most recognised songs, along with ‘Cathy’s Clown’ and ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream.’
Yet, Wake Up Little Susie will always be remembered as one of the most ludicrous times an innocent, timeless song was taken off the air for being too provocative.
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Ian Trinidad 
Adam Peaker