The All American Boy
"The All American Boy" is a 1958 talking blues song written and sung by Bobby Bare, but credited by Fraternity Records to Bill Parsons,[1] with songwriting credit to Bill Parsons and Orville Lunsford.[2] While Bare was in the army, Parsons lip synced the record on TV.
Chart performance
The song reached #2 on the Billboard charts,[3] (It was kept from the #1 spot, by Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by The Platters).[4] Overseas, "The All American Boy" went to #22 on British charts.[1] It made the top 10 in Australia.
Cover versions
- A cover version was recorded by Bob Dylan and The Band in 1967, officially released November 4, 2014 on The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete.
Popular culture
The song was inspired by the success and then conscription of Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis.[3] thus the Pop Chronicles music documentary used it as the theme song for its episodes focused on Presley.[2] The song ends with the narrator getting drafted into the US Army. This song makes reference to the Chuck Berry song "Johnny B. Goode" as well as the TV show "American Bandstand".
Sources
- "Bobby Bare Bio | Bobby Bare Career". CMT. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
- "Show 7 - The All American Boy: Enter Elvis and the rock-a-billies. [Part 1] : UNT Digital Library". Digital.library.unt.edu. 1969-03-23. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
- Poore, Billy (1998). Rockabilly: A Forty-Year Journey - Billy Poore - Google Books. ISBN 9780793591428. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
- https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1959-02-02