The group was originally composed of four brothers all born in Piqua, Ohio: John Jr (1911-1936) basso and guitarist, Herbert (1912-1989) tenor, Harry (1913-1982) baritone, and Donald (1915-1999) lead tenor. Their father owned a barber's shop, and founded a barbershop quartet called the Four Kings of Harmony. As the boys grew older, they began singing in the choir of the Cyrene African Methodist Episcopal Church and in the Park Avenue Baptist Church in Piqua. After their lessons at the Spring Street Grammar School, they would gather in front of their father's shop on Public Square or at the corner of Greene and Main to sing and play the kazoo to passersby.
They entered an amateur contest at Piqua's Mays Opera House, but while on stage Harry discovered he had lost his kazoo. He cupped his hands to his mouth and imitated a trumpet. The success of his imitation led to all the brothers taking on instruments to imitate and created their early signature sound. John Jr accompanied the four-part harmony first with a ukulele and then a guitar. They practised imitating orchestras they heard on the radio. John, as the bass, would imitate the tuba, Harry, a baritone, imitated the trumpet, Herbert became the second trumpet, and Donald the trombone. They entertained on the Midwest theatre circuit, at house parties, tent shows, music halls, and supper clubs throughout the area, and became well known for their close harmonies, mastery of scat singing, and their ability to imitate musical instruments with their voices.
In 1928, after playing May's Opera House in Piqua between Rin Tin Tin features, the brothers accompanied the Harold Greenameyer Band to Cincinnati for an audition with radio station WLW. The band was not hired, but the Mills brothers were. With the help of Seger Ellis, WLW Cincinnati D.J. and a music legend of the 1920s, they quickly became local radio stars and got their major break when Duke Ellington and his Orchestra played a date in Cincinnati. When the youngsters sang for Duke, he called Tommy Rockwell at Okeh Records, who signed them and took the group to New York.
In September 1930, Ralph Wonders urged broadcasting executive William S. Paley, at CBS Radio in New York, to turn on his office speaker and listen to an audition of four young men. For the audition they were "The Mills Brothers", but they had been known by many other names. They were billed as "The Steamboat Four" when they sang for Sohio, and had been called the "Four Boys and a Guitar" on their Sunday shows. When Paley heard their performance, he immediately went downstairs and put them on the air. The next day, the Mills Brothers signed a three-year contract and became the first black group to have a network show on radio.
Their first recording for Brunswick Records, a cover of the Original Dixieland Jass Band standard "Tiger Rag" became a nationwide best-seller and a number-one hit on the charts in a version with lyrics by Harry DaCosta. Other hits followed: "Goodbye Blues", their theme song, "Nobody's Sweetheart", "Ole Rockin' Chair", "Lazy River", "How'm I Doin'", and others. They remained on Brunswick until late 1934, when they signed with Decca, where they stayed well into the 1950s. On all of their Brunswick records, as well as the early Deccas, the label stated:
"No musical instruments or mechanical devices used on this recording other than one guitar."
They were a hit on CBS in 1930–1931, particularly when they co-starred on the widely popular The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour hosted by Rudy Vallee. They had their own popular radio series in 1932–1933, one of the earliest built around a black act, billed as the "Four Boys and a Guitar". Before their show announcers commonly explained to listeners that the only instrument was a guitar, as the vocal effects made many listeners think they were hearing a muted trumpet, saxophone, and string bass or tuba.
The Mills Brothers were sponsored by some of the largest advertisers in early radio; Standard Oil, Procter & Gamble, Crisco, and Crosley Radio. They began appearing in films. Their first, The Big Broadcast (1932) was an all-star radio revue that included Bing Crosby, Cab Calloway, and the Boswell Sisters. They also made three "bouncing ball" cartoon shorts for the Fleischer Brothers. In 1934, the brothers starred with Crosby for Woodbury Soap, and recorded their classics "Lazy Bones", "Sweet Sue", "Lulu's Back in Town", "Bye-Bye Blackbird", "Sleepy Head", and "Shoe Shine Boy". Their film appearances included Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934) and Broadway Gondolier (1935).
In 1934, The Mills Brothers became the first U.S. black musicians to give a command performance before British royalty. They performed at the Regal Theatre for a special audience: King George V, Queen Mary, and their mother. While performing in England, John Jr became ill. It took him months to recover from battling pneumonia. Before he was completely well, the brothers returned to England. John Jr once again became sick and died at the beginning of 1936.
The remaining brothers considered breaking up, but their mother told them John Jr would have wanted them to continue. They followed her suggestion and their father, John Sr, replaced John Jr as the baritone and tuba. At this time, Norman Brown joined the Brothers as their guitar player.
Through 1939 the group enjoyed remarkable success in Europe. In the period between John Jr's death and their return to the States, they re-recorded "Lazy River". It was followed by "Someday You'll Want Me to Want You", "Swing Is the Thing", "Long about Midnight", "Organ Grinder's Swing", and "The Song is Ended". They honoured Duke Ellington with a swing version of his "Caravan", and then produced a series of classic recordings: "South of the Border", which they performed in a tour of South America, along with "Ain't Misbehavin'", "It Don’t Mean a Thing", "Jeepers Creepers", "Three Little Fishies", and "Basin Street Blues".
During this era, there was also a brief time when the group performed with a non‑family singer. Gene Smith served as a stand-in for one year when Harry was drafted into the Army. Although Smith's solo singing did not particularly resemble the group's usual sound, he was able to harmonise well until the fourth brother's return. Smith is very noticeable in a number of the Mills Brothers' film appearances.
Returning to the States, the Brothers were anxious for a hit and recorded "I'll be Around" in 1943. Donald Mills chose "Paper Doll" as the B-side of the record. "I'll Be Around" became a popular hit, then a disk jockey turned the record over. "Paper Doll", recorded in fifteen minutes, sold six million copies and became the group's biggest hit.
The rise of rock and roll in the early 1950s did little to decrease the Mills Brothers' popularity. "Glow Worm" jumped to number one on the pop charts in 1952. The track also reached number ten in the U.K. singles chart in January 1953. "Opus One", an updated version of the Tommy Dorsey hit, was soon in the charts as well, followed by "You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You", "The Jones Boy", "Yellow Bird", "Standing on the Corner", and "If I Had My Way".
In 1957, John Sr, who was then sixty-eight, stopped touring with the group. As a trio, the Mills Brothers were frequent guests on The Jack Benny Show, The Perry Como Show, The Tonight Show, The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, The Dean Martin Show, and The Hollywood Palace. A move from Decca to Dot Records brought a moderate 1958 hit, a cover of the Silhouettes' "Get a Job" that made explicit the considerable influence on doo-wop that the early Mills Brothers records had exerted. The Mills Brothers also charted "Yellow Bird" two years before Arthur Lyman's top-ten hit remake.
"Cab Driver", recorded in 1968, was their last hit. It was written by songwriter C. Carson Parks, who also wrote "Somethin' Stupid", a hit the previous year for Frank Sinatra and his daughter Nancy.
The Mills Brothers' fiftieth anniversary in show business was celebrated in 1976 with a tribute at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, hosted by Bing Crosby. At the time, Harry was now almost blind as a result of diabetes.
As a trio, Herbert, Harry, and Donald continued performing on the oldies circuit until Harry's death in 1982. Herbert and Donald continued until Herbert's death in 1989. Then Donald began performing with the third generation of the family, his son, John III. In 1998 the Recording Academy recognised the Mills family's contributions to popular music when it presented Donald, as the sole surviving member, with a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
After Donald's death of pneumonia on the 13th November 1999, John III began touring under the name "The Mills Brothers" with Elmer Hopper, who had previously sung lead with Paul Robi's Platters.
Altogether, the group recorded more than 2,000 recordings, selling more than fifty million copies and gaining them at least three dozen gold records. The Mills Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.
You Broke The Only Heart That Ever Loved You
The Mills Brothers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Lived a pinto pony and a Navajo
Who sang a sort of Indian "Hi-de-ho"
To the people passin' by
The pinto spent his time a-swishin' flies
And the Navajo watched the lazy skies
And very rarely did they ever rest their eyes
One day, they went a walkin' along the railroad track
They were swishin' not a-lookin' Toot! Toot!, they never came back
Oh, across the alley from the Alamo
When the summer sun decides to settle low
A fly sings an Indian "Hi-de-ho"
To the people passing by
Across the alley from the Alamo
Lived a pinto pony and a Navajo
Who used to bake frijoles in cornmeal dough
For the people passing by
They thought that they would make some easy bucks
By washin' their frijoles in Duz and Lux,
A pair of very conscientious clucks
To the people passin' by
Then they took this cheap vacation, their shoes were polished bright
No, they never heard the whistle, Toot! Toot! they're clear out of sight
Oh, across the alley from the Alamo
When the starlight beams its tender glow
The beams go to sleep and then there ain't no dough
For the people passin' by
One day, they went a walkin' along the railroad track
They were swishin' not a-lookin' Toot! Toot!, they never came back
Oh, across the alley from the Alamo
When the summer sun decides to settle low
A fly sings an Indian "Hi-de-ho"
To the people passin' by
Across the alley from the Alamo
, The Mills Brothers sing about the lives of a pinto pony and a Navajo person who live there. The Navajo person sings a sort of Indian "Hi-de-ho" to the people passing by, while the pinto pony spends their time swishing flies away. The two rarely take their eyes off the skies, and one day they take a walk along the railroad track, but never return. It's unclear if the two met their doom via the train or some other circumstance, but the song suggests they met a tragic end. The song then returns to the image of the fly singing its tune and people passing by.
The song's use of a pinto pony and Navajo person as characters could be seen as a reference to the melting pot that is America: two different cultures coexisting across the alley from one another. The tragic end of these two characters could be seen as a commentary on the tough realities of life that people face, even those who might seem to be living quiet, uneventful lives. Perhaps the song is saying that even in the midst of the mundane, tragedy can strike.
Overall, the lyrics of the song are open to interpretation and can be seen as a commentary on life, death, and the everyday struggles people face.
Line by Line Meaning
Across the alley from the Alamo
The singer is setting the scene for the story that he is going to tell
Lived a pinto pony and a Navajo
The singer introduces the two characters, a pony and a Native American man
Who sang a sort of Indian 'Hi-de-ho'
The man and the pony had a unique way of greeting the people who passed by, a song that was traditional to the man's tribe
To the people passin' by
The singer emphasizes that the song was for the people walking by and not for the man and the pony themselves
The pinto spent his time a-swishin' flies
The pony was occupied with swishing flies away
And the Navajo watched the lazy skies
The man spent most of his time watching the sky, enjoying its beauty and maybe hoping for rain
And very rarely did they ever rest their eyes
The man and the pony didn't like to sleep or take naps that often
On the people passin' by
The singer repeats that the two characters are always aware of the people walking by
One day, they went a walkin' along the railroad track
The man and the pony took a walk on the train tracks
They were swishin' not a-lookin' Toot! Toot!, they never came back
While swishing flies, they didn't notice the train coming, and they were hit and killed
When the summer sun decides to settle low
The singer is referring to the sun setting in the evening during summer
A fly sings an Indian 'Hi-de-ho'
The song the man and the pony used to sing is now associated with a fly, possibly suggesting that the song is now a memory or a ghost song
To the people passing by
The song is still for the people passing by
Who used to bake frijoles in cornmeal dough
Before their accident, the man used to cook beans in cornmeal dough
For the people passing by
The man and pony were not cooking for themselves but instead sharing their food with the people who passed by
They thought that they would make some easy bucks
The man and the pony thought they could make some money easily
By washin' their frijoles in Duz and Lux,
They thought they could make their beans look more appealing by washing them with laundry detergent
A pair of very conscientious clucks
The singer is mocking the man and the pony for their foolishness
Then they took this cheap vacation, their shoes were polished bright
The singer suggests that the man and the pony were naive and inexperienced in the ways of the world
No, they never heard the whistle, Toot! Toot! they're clear out of sight
They were so focused on their beans and their shoes that they didn't hear the train coming
When the starlight beams its tender glow
The singer is referring to the soft light of the stars at night
The beams go to sleep and then there ain't no dough
The man and the pony were not making any more money because they were dead
For the people passin' by
The people walking by can no longer receive the song or the food that the man and the pony used to give them
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: BARBARA BELLE, JACK LITTLE, LARRY STOCK, LARRY LAWRENCE STOCK, TEDDY POWELL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind