The Everly Brothers – Wake Up Little Susie, is a popular song written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant and published in 1957. The song is best known in a recording by the Everly Brothers, issued by Cadence Records as catalog number 1337. The Everly Brothers record reached No. 1 on the Billboard Pop chart and the Cash Box Best Selling Records chart, despite having been banned from Boston radio stations for lyrics that, at the time, were considered suggestive, according to a 1986 interview with Don Everly. “Wake Up Little Susie” also spent seven weeks atop the Billboard country chart and got to No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was ranked at No. 318 on the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.
The song is written from the point of view of a high school boy to his girlfriend, Susie. In the song, the two go out on a date to a cinema (perhaps a drive-in), only to fall asleep during the movie. They do not wake up until 4 o’clock in the morning, well after her 10 o’clock curfew. They then contemplate the reactions of her parents and their friends. The boy fears that having stayed out so late, their friends and families will assume that they had sex together and that in spite of the two of them being perfectly innocent, they’ve both now lost their good reputations.
The Everly Brothers – Wake Up Little Susie
From the album The Everly Brothers
B-side “Maybe Tomorrow”
Released September 2, 1957
Recorded August 16, 1957
Studio RCA Victor (Nashville)
Genre Rock and roll, country, rockabilly
Length 1:57
Label Cadence
Songwriter(s) Felice Bryant Boudleaux Bryant
COUNTRYPEDIA
The Everly Brothers – Wake Up Little Susie lyrics
[Chorus:]
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
[Verse 1:]
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
[Chorus:]
Wake up, little Susie
Wake up, little Susie
[Verse 2:]
Well, what are we gonna tell your mama?
What are we gonna tell your pa?
What are we gonna tell all our friends
When they say, “Ooh la la!”
[Chorus:]
Wake up, little Susie
Wake up, little Susie
[Verse 3:]
Well, I told your mama that
You’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
[Chorus:]
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
Wake up, little Susie, wake up
[Verse 4:]
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
[Chorus:]
Wake up, little Susie
Wake up, little Susie
[Verse 5:]
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!”
[Chorus:]
Wake up, little Susie
Wake up, little Susie
Wake up, little Susie
GENIUS
