The Andrews Sisters | |
|---|---|
 Maxene (top left), LaVerne (top right), and Patty (center) in October 1943 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1925–1953, 1956–1966 (Trio) 1967–1968, 1973–1974 (Maxene and Patty) |
| Past members | LaVerne Andrews Maxene Andrews Patty Andrews |
| Website | cmgww |
The Andrews Sisters were an Americanclose harmony singing group of theswing andboogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters:contraltoLaVerne Sophia Andrews (1911–1967),sopranoMaxene Anglyn Andrews (1916–1995), andmezzo-sopranoPatricia Marie Andrews (1918–2013).[1] The sisters have sold an estimated 80 million records.[2] Their 1941 hit "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" can be considered an early example ofjump blues. Other songs closely associated with the Andrews Sisters include their first major hit, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön (Means That You're Grand)" (1937), "Beer Barrel Polka (Roll Out the Barrel)" (1939), "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" (1940), "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (with Anyone Else but Me)" (1942), and "Rum and Coca-Cola" (1945), which helped introduce American audiences tocalypso.
The Andrews Sisters' harmonies and songs are still influential today and have been copied and recorded by entertainers such asPatti Page,Bette Midler,Christina Aguilera,The Pointer Sisters,Pentatonix, and others. The group was among the inaugural inductees to theVocal Group Hall of Fame upon its opening in 1998.[3] Writing forBloomberg, Mark Schoifet said the sisters became the most popular female vocal group of the first half of the 20th century.[4] They are still widely acclaimed today for their famous close harmonies. They were inducted into the Minnesota Rock/Country Hall of Fame in May 2006.
The sisters were born to Olga Bergliot "Ollie" (née Sollie; 1886—1948) and Peter Andreas. Peter Andreas (later "Andrews"), (1890—1949) wasGreek and his wife Olga Andrews was ofNorwegian ancestry raised in theLutheran faith. The Sollie family disapproved of Olga's marriage, but the relationship was repaired once their first child, LaVerne, was born July 6, 1911. Their second daughter, Anglyn, died at eight months of age on March 16, 1914. Maxene arrived on January 3, 1916, and Patty was born February 16, 1918.
Patty, thelead singer of the group, was 7 when the trio was formed, and 12 when they won first prize at a talent contest at the localOrpheum Theatre inMinneapolis, where LaVerne played piano accompaniment for thesilent film showings in exchange for dancing lessons for her and her sisters. Following the collapse of their father's Minneapolis restaurant, the sisters went on the road to support the family.[5] All three attended Franklin Junior High School andNorth High School, both in Minneapolis.[6]
They started their career as imitators of an earlier successful singing group, theBoswell Sisters, who had been popular until their breakup in 1936.[7] After singing with various dance bands and touring invaudeville withLeon Belasco (and his orchestra)[8] and comic bandleader Larry Rich, they first came to national attention with their recordings and radio broadcasts in 1937, most notably via their major Decca record hit, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön" (translation: "To Me, You Are Beautiful"),[9] originally aYiddish tune, the lyrics of whichSammy Cahn had translated to English and "which the girls harmonized to perfection."[10] They followed this success with a string of best-selling records over the next two years and, by the 1940s, had become a household name.[11]
Instrumental to the sisters' success over the years were their parents, Olga and Peter, their orchestra leader and musical arranger,Vic Schoen (1916–2000), andJack and David Kapp, who founded Decca Records.
In the years just before and duringWorld War II, the Andrews Sisters were at the height of their popularity, and the group still tends to be associated in the public's mind with the war years. They had numerous hit records during these years, both on their own and in collaboration with fellowDecca Records artistBing Crosby. Some of these hits had service or military related themes, including "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", "Three Little Sisters", "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (with Anyone Else but Me)", "A Hot Time In the Town of Berlin" and "Rum and Coca-Cola". The sisters performed their hits in service comedy films, such asBuck Privates[12] andPrivate Buckaroo.
During the war, they entertained theAllied forces extensively in Africa and Italy, as well as in the U.S., visitingArmy,Navy,Marine, andCoast Guard bases, war zones, hospitals, and munitions factories.[13] They encouraged U.S. citizens to purchasewar bonds with their rendition ofIrving Berlin's song "Any Bonds Today?". They also helped actressBette Davis and actorJohn Garfield foundCalifornia's famousHollywood Canteen, a welcome retreat forservicemen where the trio often performed, volunteering their personal time to sing and dance for the soldiers, sailors, and Marines (they did the same atNew York City'sStage Door Canteen during the war).
While touring, they often treated three random servicemen to dinner when they were dining out. They recorded a series of Victory Discs (V-Discs) for distribution toAllied fighting forces only, again volunteering their time for studio sessions for the Music Branch, Special Service Division, of the Army Service Forces, and they were dubbed the "Sweethearts of theArmed Forces Radio Service" for their many appearances on shows such asCommand Performance,Mail Call, andG.I. Journal.[14]
The sisters' 1945 hit "Rum and Coca-Cola" became one of their most popular and best-known recordings, but also inspired some controversy. Some radio stations were reluctant to play the record because it mentioned a commercial product by name, and because the lyrics were subtly suggestive of local women prostituting themselves to U.S. servicemen serving at the naval base onTrinidad. The song was based on a Trinidadiancalypso, and a dispute over its provenance led to a well-publicized court case.[15] The sisters later told biographers that they were asked to record the tune at short notice and were unaware either of the copyright issue or of the implications of the lyrics.[16]
An ad in the 1951Radio Annual showed photos of the Andrews as children, as contemporary singers, and as old women in the then-future year of 1975, although the act would not make it that long.[17] In the 1950s, Patty Andrews decided to break away from the act to be a soloist.[18] She had married the trio's pianist, Walter Weschler, who became the group's manager and demanded more money for Patty.[1] When LaVerne and Maxene learned of Patty's decision from newspapergossip columns rather than from their own sister, it caused a bitter two-year separation, especially when Patty sued LaVerne for a larger share of their parents' estate.[19] Patty attributed the breakup to the deaths of their parents: "We had been together nearly all our lives," Patty explained in 1971. "Then in one year our dream world ended. Our mother died (in 1948) and then our father (in 1949). All three of us were upset, and we were at each other's throats all the time."[1] The Andrews Sisters formally broke up in 1953.[18]
LaVerne and Maxene tried to continue the act as a duo and met with good press during a 10-day tour ofAustralia, but a reportedsuicide attempt by Maxene in December 1954[20] put a halt to any further tours (Maxene spent a short time in the hospital after swallowing 18 sleeping pills, an occurrence that LaVerne told reporters was an accident). LaVerne and Maxene did appear together onThe Red Skelton Show on October 26, 1954, singing the humorous "Why Do They Give the Solos to Patty" as well as lip-synching "Beer Barrel Polka" with Skelton in drag filling in for Patty. This, however, did not sit well with Patty, and a cease-and-desist order was sent to Skelton. The sisters' private relationship was often troubled, and Patty blamed it on Maxene: "Ever since I was born, Maxene has been a problem, and that problem hasn't stopped," she said.[21]
The trio reunited in 1956 and signed a new recording deal withCapitol Records, for whom Patty was already a featured soloist. By this point, however, rock-and-roll anddoo-wop were dominating the charts, and older artists were left by the wayside. The sisters recorded a dozen singles through 1959, some of which attempted to keep up with the times by incorporating rock sounds. None of these achieved any major success. In addition, they produced threehi-fi albums, including a vibrantLP of songs from the dancing 1920s withBilly May's orchestra. In 1962, they signed withDot Records and recorded a series ofstereo albums until 1967, both re-recordings of earlier hits which incorporated up-to-date production techniques as well as new material, including "I Left My Heart in San Francisco", "Still", "The End of the World", "Puff the Magic Dragon", "Sailor", "Satin Doll", "Mr. Bass Man", the theme fromCome September, and the theme fromA Man and a Woman. They toured extensively during the 1960s, favoring top nightclubs inLas Vegas,California, andLondon, England.[22]
Eldest sister LaVerne died in 1967 at the age of 55 after a year-long bout withcancer,[23] during which she was replaced by singer Joyce DeYoung (May 24, 1926 – March 7, 2014). DeYoung fulfilled concert appearances, including an appearance onThe Dean Martin Show on November 30, 1967, but she did not record with Maxene and Patty. LaVerne had founded the original group and often acted as the peacemaker among the three during the sisters' lives, more often siding with her parents, to whom the girls were extremely devoted, than with either of her sisters. Their last appearance together as a trio was onThe Dean Martin Show on September 29, 1966.
After LaVerne died, Maxene and Patty continued to perform periodically until 1968, when Maxene became the Dean of Women at Tahoe Paradise College,[24] teaching acting, drama, and speech, and working with troubled teens; and Patty was once again eager to be a soloist.[25]
In 1969, Patty appeared inLucille Ball's third seriesHere's Lucy, in the sixth episode of the second season, titled "Lucy and the Andrews Sisters". The episode has Patty enlisting the help of Lucy, her daughter Kim (played byLucie Arnaz), and her son Craig (Desi Arnaz Jr.) to perform a medley of Andrews Sisters hits for the Andrews Sisters Fan Club reunion. Lucy played LaVerne, Kim (Lucie Arnaz) played Maxene, and Craig (Desi Arnaz Jr.) played Bing Crosby. She also had a cameo as herself, along with many other stars, in the 1970 filmThe Phynx.
Maxene and Patty's careers experienced a resurgence whenBette Midler covered "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" in 1973. The next year, the pair debuted onBroadway in theSherman Brothers' nostalgicWorld War IImusical:Over Here!, which premiered at theShubert Theatre to rave reviews. This was a follow-up to Patty's success inVictory Canteen, a 1971 California revue.Over Here! starred Maxene and Patty (withJanie Sell filling in for LaVerne and winning aTony Award for her performance) and was written with both sisters in mind for the leads. It launched the careers of many now notable theater, film, and television stars, includingJohn Travolta,Marilu Henner,Treat Williams, andAnn Reinking. It was the last major tour for the sisters and was cut short owing to a conflict with the show's producers over pay for the sisters, resulting in the cancellation of an extensively scheduled road tour.[26]OverHere! lasted only a year, and its end marked the last time the sisters would ever sing together.[27]
Patty continually distanced herself from Maxene, until her death, and would not explain her motives regarding the separation. Maxene appealed to Patty for a reunion, personally if not professionally, both in public and in private, but to no avail. Maxene suffered a seriousheart attack while performing inIllinois in 1982 and underwentquadruple bypass surgery, from which she successfully recovered. Patty visited her sister while she was hospitalized. Now sometimes appearing as "Patti" (but still signing autographs as "Patty"), she re-emerged in the late 1970s as a regular panelist onThe Gong Show. Maxene had a successful comeback as a cabaret soloist in 1979 and toured worldwide for the next 15 years, recording a solo album in 1985 entitledMaxene: An Andrews Sister for Bainbridge Records. Patty started her own solo act in 1980, but did not receive the critical acclaim her sister had for her performances, even though Patty was considered to be the "star" of the group for years. The critics' major complaint was that Patty's show concentrated too much on Andrews Sisters material, which did not allow Patty's own talents as an expressive and bluesy vocalist to shine through.[28]
The two sisters did reunite, albeit briefly, on October 1, 1987, when they received a star on Hollywood'sWalk of Fame, even singing a few bars of "Beer Barrel Polka" for theEntertainment Tonight cameras. The1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake had shaken the area that morning and the ceremony was nearly cancelled, which caused Patty to joke, "Some people said that earthquake this morning was LaVerne because she couldn't be here, but really it was just Maxene and me on the telephone." Besides this, and a few brief private encounters, they remained somewhat estranged for their remaining years, with Maxene dying in 1995.[29]
Shortly after herOff-Broadway debut inNew York City in a show calledSwingtime Canteen, Maxene suffered another heart attack and died atCape Cod Hospital on October 21, 1995, making Patty the last surviving Andrews Sister. Not long before she died, Maxene told music historian William Ruhlmann:
I have nothing to regret. We got on the carousel and we each got the ring and I was satisfied with that. There's nothing I would do to change things if I could...Yes, I would. I wish I had the ability and the power to bridge the gap between my relationship with my sister, Patty.[30]
Upon hearing the news of her sister's death, Patty became distraught. Several days later, Patty's husband, Wally, fell down a flight of stairs and broke both of his wrists. As a result, Patty did not attend either the California or New York memorial services for Maxene.[31]Bob Hope said of Maxene's death, "She was more than part of The Andrews Sisters, much more than a singer. She was a warm and wonderful lady who shared her talent and wisdom with others."[30]
They found instant appeal with teenagers and young adults who were engrossed in theswing andjazz idioms, especially when they performed with nearly all of the majorbig bands, including those led byGlenn Miller,Benny Goodman,Buddy Rich,Tommy Dorsey,Jimmy Dorsey,Gene Krupa,Joe Venuti,Freddie Slack,Eddie Heywood,Bob Crosby (Bing's brother),Desi Arnaz,Guy Lombardo,Les Brown,Bunny Berigan,Xavier Cugat,Paul Whiteman,Ted Lewis,Nelson Riddle, andGordon Jenkins.[citation needed]
While the sisters specialized intraditional pop,[32]swing,boogie-woogie, and novelty hits with their trademark lightning-quick vocal syncopations, they also produced major hits injazz,ballads,folk,country, seasonal, andreligious titles, being the first Decca artists to record an album ofgospel standards in 1950.[33] Their versatility allowed them to pair with many different artists in the recording studios, producingTop 10 hits with the likes of Bing Crosby[34] (the only recording artist of the 1940s to sell more records than the Andrews Sisters),Danny Kaye,Dick Haymes,Carmen Miranda,Al Jolson,Ray McKinley,Burl Ives,Ernest Tubb,Red Foley,Dan Dailey,Alfred Apaka, andLes Paul.[35][36] In personal appearances, on radio and on television, they sang with everyone fromRudy Vallee,Judy Garland, andNat "King" Cole, toJimmie Rodgers,Andy Williams, andthe Supremes.[35][37] Some of the trio's late 1930s recordings have noticeableBoswell Sisters vocal influences.[38]
LaVerne Andrews married Lou Rogers,[23] a trumpet player inVic Schoen's band, in 1948. The two remained together until LaVerne's death from liver cancer on May 8, 1967, at the age of 55. Lou died in 1995.[39]
Maxene Andrews married music publisherLou Levy in 1941, separating in 1949. They adopted a girl and a boy, Aleda Ann and Peter.[40] Levy was the sisters' manager from 1937 to 1951. Later in life, according to her adopted daughter, Maxene entered a thirteen-year relationship with a woman and later spent many years with her manager Lynda Wells as life partners. "To me, being gay was not a central focus of Maxene's life at all," Wells told radio station The Current (KCMP) in a 2019 interview.[41] "Her art was. Her singing was." However, Wells says that their status as companions, and Maxene's health issues as she got older, led Maxene to adopt her as a daughter. "There was no such thing as being married at that time," she said. "During her lifetime, there was no such thing that existed for us."[41] Maxene died October 21, 1995, at age 79. The ashes of LaVerne and Maxene Andrews are interred in the Columbarium of Memory of theForest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery inGlendale, California,[28] near the ashes of their parents.
Patty Andrews married agentMarty Melcher in 1947 but left him in 1949, when he pursued a romantic relationship withDoris Day. She then married Walter Weschler, the trio's pianist, in 1951. Patty died of natural causes at her home inNorthridge, California, on January 30, 2013, at the age of 94. Weschler, her husband of nearly 60 years, had died on August 28, 2010, at the age of 88.[5][42]
Joyce DeYoung Murray, who replaced LaVerne from late 1966 to 1968, died in March 2014 at the age of 87.[43]
The Andrews Sisters were the most imitated of all female singing groups and influenced many artists, includingMel Tormé,Les Paul and Mary Ford,the Four Freshmen,the Supremes,the Beach Boys,the McGuire Sisters,the Lennon Sisters,the Pointer Sisters,the Manhattan Transfer,Barry Manilow, andBette Midler.[citation needed] Their style was even emulated internationally; the Harmony Sisters, a popularFinland group that performed from the 1930s to the 1950s, was one such example.[44]
Most of the Andrews Sisters' music has been restored and released incompact disc form. Over 300 of their original Decca recordings, a good portion of which was hit material, has yet to be released byMCA/Decca. Many of their Decca recordings have been used in such television shows and Hollywood movies asHomefront,ER,Agent Carter,The Brink's Job,National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation,Swing Shift,Raggedy Man,Summer of '42,Slaughterhouse-Five,Maria's Lovers,Harlem Nights,In Dreams,Murder in the First,L.A. Confidential,American Horror Story,Just Shoot Me,Gilmore Girls,Mama's Family,War and Remembrance,Jakob the Liar,Lolita,The Polar Express,The Chronicles of Narnia,Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front,Memoirs of a Geisha, andBon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!). Comical references to the trio in televisionsitcoms can be found as early asI Love Lucy and as recently asEverybody Loves Raymond. In 2007, their version of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön" was included in the gameBioShock, a first-person shooter that takes place in analternate history 1960, and later in 2008, their song "Civilization" (withDanny Kaye) was included in theAtomic Age-inspired video gameFallout 3. The 2010 video gameMafia II features numerous Andrews Sisters songs, with "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", "Strip Polka" and "Rum and Coca-Cola". The 2011 video gameL.A. Noire features the song "Pistol Packin' Mama", where the sisters perform a duet withBing Crosby.[45] The sisters were again featured in aFallout game in 2015, when their songs "Pistol Packin' Mama" and "Civilization" were featured in the gameFallout 4.
Christina Aguilera used the Andrews Sisters' "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" to inspire her song "Candyman" (released as a single in 2007) from her hit albumBack to Basics. The song was co-written byLinda Perry. The London-based trio thePuppini Sisters uses their style harmonies on several Andrews Sisters and other hits of the 1940s and 1950s, as well as laterrock anddisco hits. The trio have said their name is a tribute to the Andrews Sisters. The National WW2 Museum's Victory Belles pay tribute to the Andrews Sisters, performing their music daily in the Stage Door Canteen inNew Orleans. The Manhattan Dolls, a New York City-based touring group, performs both the popular songs sung by the Andrews Sisters and some of the more obscure ones, such as "Well Alright" and "South American Way".[46][47]
In 2008 and 2009, theBBC producedThe Andrews Sisters: Queens of the Music Machines, a one-hour documentary on the history of the Andrews Sisters from their upbringing to the present. The North American premiere of the show was June 21, 2009, in their summer vacation enclave of Mound, Minnesota. In 2008, Mound dedicated "The Andrews Sisters Trail". The sisters spent summers in Mound[1] with their uncles Pete and Ed Solie, who had a grocery store there. Maxene Andrews always said that the summers in Mound created a major sense of "normalcy" and "a wonderful childhood" in a life that otherwise centered on the sisters' careers. The Westonka Historical Society has a large collection of Andrews Sisters memorabilia.[48]
In 2019, theGreat American Songbook Foundation held an exhibition titled "The Andrews Sisters: Queens of the Jukebox," which led discussions about the lives and impact of the Andrews sisters' careers on the music industry alongside a collection of archival artifacts and historic memorabilia.[49] The Songbook Library & Archives houses most comprehensive collection of Andrews Sisters memorabilia available today.[50]
TheBronx Zoo acquired three young femaleAsian Elephants in October 1973, which they named Laverne, Maxine (a slightly different spelling), and Patty in honor of the trio. Of the three elephants, Patty still resides at the Bronx Zoo today, while the other two elephants, Laverne and Maxine, died in 1982 and 2018 respectively.
Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne appeared in 17 Hollywood films. Their first picture,Argentine Nights, paired them with another enthusiastic trio, theRitz Brothers.[51]Universal Pictures, always budget-conscious, refused to hire a choreographer, so the Ritzes taught the sisters some eccentric steps. Thus, inArgentine Nights and the sisters' next film,Buck Privates, the Andrews Sisters dance like the Ritz Brothers.[citation needed]
Buck Privates, withAbbott and Costello, featured the Andrews Sisters' best-known song, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy."[52] ThisDon Raye-Hughie Prince composition was nominated forBest Song at the 1941Academy Awards ceremony.[53]
Universal hired the sisters for two more Abbott and Costello comedies and then promoted them to full-fledged stardom in B musicals.What's Cookin'?,Private Buckaroo,Give Out, Sisters (in which they disguise themselves as old women as part of the zany plot) andMoonlight and Cactus were among the team's popular full-length films.[54]
The Andrews Sisters sing the title song as the opening credits roll and also perform two specialty numbers in the all-star revueHollywood Canteen (1944). They can be seen singing "You Don't Have to Know the Language" withBing Crosby in Paramount'sRoad to Rio withBob Hope, that year's highest-grossing movie. Their singing voices are heard in two full-lengthWalt Disney features:Make Mine Music,[55] in a segment which featured animated charactersJohnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet; andMelody Time, in the segment "Little Toot" (both of which are available onDVD today).[citation needed]
The Andrews Sisters were the most sought-after singers in theater shows worldwide during the 1940s and early 1950s, always topping previous house averages.[56][57][58] The trio headlined at theLondon Palladium in 1948[59] and 1951.[60] They hosted their own radio shows forABC andCBS from 1944 to 1951,[61] singing specially written commercial jingles for such products asWrigley's chewing gum,[62]Dole pineapples,[63]Nash motor cars,Kelvinator home appliances,[64]Campbell's soups, andFranco-American food products.[65] The western-themedThe Andrews Sisters' Show (subtitled "Eight-to-the-Bar Ranch"), co-hosted by Gabby Hayes, began in 1944 and featured a special guest every week.[66]
The trio recorded 47 songs with Bing Crosby, 23 of which charted onBillboard, thus making the team one of the most successful pairings of acts in a recording studio in show business history. Their million-sellers with Crosby included "Pistol Packin' Mama",[67] "Don't Fence Me In",[34] "South America, Take It Away", and "Jingle Bells".[68]
The sisters' popularity was such that after the war, they discovered that some of their records had actually been smuggled into Germany, after the labels had been changed to read "Hitler's Marching Songs". Their recording of "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön" became a favorite of theNazis, until it was discovered that the song's composers were of Jewish descent. This did not stopconcentration camp inmates from secretly singing it, this being most likely because the song was originally a Yiddish song, "Bei Mir Bistu Shein", and had been popularized within the Jewish community before it was recorded as a more successful "cover" version by the Andrews Sisters.[69]
Edward Habib, in the CD liner notes forSongs That Won the War Vol. 2 The Hollywood Canteen, states that the Andrews Sisters' radio transcription of "Elmer's Tune" was "so popular it even played on German radio," noting that "the opposition embraced the Andrews Sisters and their songs in the same way the Allied Forces adoptedLili Marlene."
Along with Bing Crosby, separately and jointly, the Andrews Sisters were among the performers who incorporated ethnic music styles into America'sHit Parade, popularizing or enhancing the popularity of songs with melodies originating in Brazil, Czechoslovakia, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Trinidad, many of which their manager chose for them.[70][71]
The Andrews Sisters became the most popular female vocal group of the first half of the 20th century.[72]
Early comparative female close harmony trios were theBoswell Sisters, thePickens Sisters, and theThree X Sisters.[citation needed]
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| Year | Single | Chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | US Country | ||
| 1938 | "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön (Means That You're Grand)" | 1 | – | – |
| "Nice Work If You Can Get It" | 12 | – | – | |
| "Joseph, Joseph" | 18 | – | – | |
| "Ti-Pi-Tin" | 12 | – | – | |
| "Shortenin' Bread" | 16 | – | – | |
| "Says My Heart" | 10 | – | – | |
| "Tu-li-Tulip Time" | 9 | – | – | |
| "Sha-Sha" | 17 | – | – | |
| "Lullaby to a Jitterbug" | 10 | – | – | |
| 1939 | "Pross-Tchai (Goodbye)" | 15 | – | – |
| "Hold Tight, Hold Tight (Want Some Sea Food, Mama?)" | 2 | – | – | |
| "You Don't Know How Much You Can Suffer" | 14 | – | – | |
| "Beer Barrel Polka (Roll Out the Barrel)" | 4 | – | – | |
| "Well All Right (Tonight's the Night)" | 5 | – | – | |
| "Ciribiribin (They're So In Love)"(with Bing Crosby) | 13 | – | – | |
| "Yodelin' Jive"(with Bing Crosby) | 4 | – | – | |
| "Chico's Love Song" | 11 | – | – | |
| 1940 | "Say Si Si (Para Vigo Me Voy)" | 4 | – | – |
| "The Woodpecker Song" | 6 | – | – | |
| "Down By the O-Hi-O" | 21 | – | – | |
| "Rhumboogie" | 11 | – | – | |
| "Ferryboat Serenade" | 1 | – | – | |
| "Hit the Road" | 27 | – | – | |
| "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" | 2 | – | – | |
| 1941 | "Scrub Me, Mama, With a Boogie Beat" | 10 | – | – |
| "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" | 6 | – | – | |
| "I Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much)" | 11 | – | – | |
| "(I'll Be With You) In Apple Blossom Time" | 5 | – | – | |
| "Aurora" | 10 | – | – | |
| "Sonny Boy" | 22 | – | – | |
| "The Nickel Serenade" | 22 | – | – | |
| "Sleepy Serenade" | 22 | – | – | |
| "I Wish I Had a Dime (For Every Time I Missed You)" | 20 | – | – | |
| "Jealous" | 12 | – | – | |
| 1942 | "The Shrine of St. Cecilia" | 3 | – | – |
| "I'll Pray For You" | 22 | – | – | |
| "Three Little Sisters" | 8 | – | – | |
| "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" | 16 | – | – | |
| "Pennsylvania Polka" | 17 | – | – | |
| "That's the Moon, My Son" | 18 | – | – | |
| "Mister Five By Five" | 14 | – | – | |
| "Strip Polka" | 6 | – | – | |
| "Here Comes the Navy" | 17 | – | – | |
| 1943 | "East of the Rockies" | 18 | – | – |
| "Pistol Packin' Mama"(withBing Crosby) | 2 | 3 | 1 | |
| "Victory Polka"(withBing Crosby) | 5 | – | – | |
| "Jingle Bells"(withBing Crosby) | 19 | – | – | |
| "Shoo-Shoo Baby" | 1 | – | – | |
| 1944 | "Down In the Valley" | 20 | – | – |
| "Straighten Up and Fly Right" | 8 | – | – | |
| "Tico Tico" | 24 | – | – | |
| "Sing a Tropical Song" | 24 | – | – | |
| "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby"(withBing Crosby) | 2 | – | – | |
| "A Hot Time In the Town of Berlin"(withBing Crosby) | 1 | – | – | |
| "Don't Fence Me In"(withBing Crosby) | 1 | 9 | – | |
| 1945 | "Rum and Coca-Cola" | 1 | 3 | – |
| "Accentuate the Positive"(withBing Crosby) | 2 | – | – | |
| "The Three Caballeros"(withBing Crosby) | 8 | – | – | |
| "One Meat Ball" | 15 | – | – | |
| "Corns For My Country" | 21 | – | – | |
| "Along the Navajo Trail"(withBing Crosby) | 2 | – | – | |
| "The Blond Sailor" | 8 | – | – | |
| 1946 | "Money Is the Root of All Evil" | 9 | – | – |
| "Patience and Fortitude" | 12 | – | – | |
| "Coax Me a Little Bit" | 24 | – | – | |
| "South America, Take It Away"(withBing Crosby) | 2 | – | – | |
| "Get Your Kicks On Route 66"(withBing Crosby) | 14 | – | – | |
| "I Don't Know Why" | 17 | – | – | |
| "House of Blue Lights" | 15 | – | – | |
| "Rumors Are Flying"(with Les Paul) | 4 | – | – | |
| "Winter Wonderland"(withGuy Lombardo) | 22 | – | – | |
| "Christmas Island"(withGuy Lombardo) | 7 | – | – | |
| 1947 | "Tallahassee"(with Bing Crosby) | 10 | – | – |
| "There's No Business Like Show Business"(withBing Crosby andDick Haymes) | 25 | – | – | |
| "On the Avenue" | 21 | – | – | |
| "Near You" | 2 | – | – | |
| "The Lady From 29 Palms" | 7 | – | – | |
| "The Freedom Train"(withBing Crosby) | 21 | – | – | |
| "Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo)"(withDanny Kaye) | 3 | – | – | |
| "Jingle Bells"(withBing Crosby)(re-entry) | 21 | – | – | |
| "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town"(withBing Crosby) | 22 | – | – | |
| "Christmas Island" (withGuy Lombardo)(re-entry) | 20 | – | – | |
| "Your Red Wagon" | 24 | – | – | |
| "How Lucky You Are" | 22 | – | – | |
| 1948 | "You Don't Have To Know the Language"(withBing Crosby) | 21 | – | – |
| "Teresa"(withDick Haymes) | 21 | – | – | |
| "Toolie Oolie Doolie (The Yodel Polka)" | 3 | – | – | |
| "I Hate to Lose You" | 14 | – | – | |
| "Heartbreaker" | 21 | – | – | |
| "Sabre Dance" | 20 | – | – | |
| "Woody Woodpecker"(withDanny Kaye) | 18 | – | – | |
| "Blue Tail Fly"(withBurl Ives) | 24 | – | – | |
| "Underneath the Arches" | 5 | – | – | |
| "You Call Everybody Darling" | 8 | – | – | |
| "Cuanto La Gusta"(withCarmen Miranda) | 12 | – | – | |
| "160 Acres"(withBing Crosby) | 23 | – | – | |
| "Bella Bella Marie" | 23 | – | – | |
| 1949 | "Christmas Island"(withGuy Lombardo)(re-entry) | 26 | – | – |
| "The Pussy Cat Song (Nyow! Nyot! Nyow!)"(Patty Andrews andBob Crosby) | 12 | – | – | |
| "More Beer!" | 30 | – | – | |
| "I'm Bitin' My Fingernails and Thinking of You"(withErnest Tubb) | 30 | – | 2 | |
| "Don't Rob Another Man's Castle"(withErnest Tubb) | – | – | 6 | |
| "I Can Dream, Can't I?" | 1 | – | – | |
| "The Wedding of Lili Marlene" | 20 | – | – | |
| "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"(withRuss Morgan) | 22 | – | – | |
| "Charley, My Boy"(withRuss Morgan) | 15 | – | – | |
| 1950 | "Merry Christmas Polka"(withGuy Lombardo) | 18 | – | – |
| "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You"(withBing Crosby) | 24 | – | – | |
| "Quicksilver"(withBing Crosby) | 6 | – | – | |
| "The Wedding Samba"(withCarmen Miranda) | 23 | – | – | |
| "I Wanna Be Loved" | 1 | – | – | |
| "Can't We Talk It Over" | 22 | – | – | |
| "A Bushel and a Peck" | 22 | – | – | |
| "Mele Kalikimaka"(withBing Crosby) | 36 | – | – | |
| 1951 | "A Penny a Kiss, a Penny a Hug" | 17 | – | – |
| "Sparrow in the Tree Top"(withBing Crosby) | 8 | – | – | |
| "Too Young"(Patty Andrews) | 19 | – | – | |
| 1952 | "Sing, Sing, Sing" | 17 | – | – |
| 1955 | "Suddenly There's a Valley"(Patty Andrews) | 69 | – | – |
Highest chart positions onBillboard; withVic Schoen and his orchestra, unless otherwise noted:
(partial list)
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