Peak
2
Weeks
15
Score
3,426
Chart Year
1959
Like most Coaster's songs, this was written by the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. They wrote hits for many artists, including Elvis Presley, The Drifters, and Ben E. King. The songs they wrote for The Coasters were usually more comical. Leiber and Stoller made up the story of Charlie Brown, a kid who is always getting in trouble and wonders why everyone's always picking on him. It has nothing to do with the character in the Peanuts comic strip. Jerry Leiber, of Leiber and Stoller fame, reports that the phrase "He's a clown, that Charlie Brown" occurred to him after a long creative dry spell. Their previous Coasters hit was "Yakety Yak," which almost wrote itself when Mike Stoller was fooling around on the piano and Leiber yelled from the kitchen, "Take out the papers and the trash!" For "Charlie Brown," Mike Stoller already had a melody written, to which the lyrics were fitted. n the book Hound Dog: The Leiber & Stoller Autobiography, Mike Stoller tells of the fascinating character that was Cornell Gunter: "...you wouldn't exactly call Cornell macho. The minute he opened his mouth, you knew he was gay. He had a queenly elocution and, in fact, did a dead-on imitation of the Queen of the Blues, Dinah Washington, too." You can hear this slight lisp in the line "Why is everybody always picking on me?" In spite of this, he had an 18-inch neck, considerable strength, and once threw an assailant over a pickup truck! This song was also played and referenced in the Robin Williams film Jack, including a parody of the tagline when Bill Cosby (playing Jack's teacher) exclaims "Why is everybody always falling on me?" after their tree house crashes to the ground. The BBC banned this song because of the bad behavior Charlie Brown demonstrated, especially throwing spitballs. This ban was soon lifted.
Fe-fe, fi-fi, fo-fo, fum I smell smoke in the auditorium Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown He's a clown, that Charlie Brown He's gonna get caught, just you wait and see (Why's everybody always pickin' on me?) That's him on his knees, I know that's him Yellin' "seven-come-eleven" down in the boys' gym Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown He's a clown, that Charlie Brown He's gonna get caught, just you wait and see (Why's everybody always pickin' on me?) Who's always writing on the wall? Who's always goofin' in the hall? Who's always throwin' spit balls? Guess who (who, me?) Yeah, you Who walks in the classroom, cool and slow? Who calls the English teacher Daddy-O? Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown He's a clown, that Charlie Brown He's gonna get caught, just you wait and see (Why's everybody always pickin' on me?) Who walks in the classroom, cool and slow? Who calls the English teacher Daddy-O? Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown He's a clown, that Charlie Brown He's gonna get caught, just you wait and see (Why's everybody always pickin' on me?)
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feb 2, 1959 | 69 | 57 |
| 2 | Feb 9, 1959 | 29 | 97 |
| 3 | Feb 16, 1959 | 20 | 106 |
| 4 | Feb 23, 1959 | 5 | 121 |
| 5 | Mar 2, 1959 | 3 | 123 |
| 6 | Mar 9, 1959 | 2 | 124 |
| 7 | Mar 16, 1959 | 2 | 124 |
| 8 | Mar 23, 1959 | 2 | 124 |
| 9 | Mar 30, 1959 | 3 | 123 |
| 10 | Apr 6, 1959 | 7 | 119 |
| 11 | Apr 13, 1959 | 7 | 119 |
| 12 | Apr 20, 1959 | 16 | 110 |
| 13 | Apr 27, 1959 | 26 | 100 |
| 14 | May 4, 1959 | 43 | 83 |
| 15 | May 11, 1959 | 66 | 60 |