Straighten Up & Fly Right

Straighten Up & Fly Right — The DeJohn Sisters and a Standard Reborn

A Song With Deep Roots

Before the DeJohn Sisters recorded it in 1958, Straighten Up and Fly Right had already lived several musical lives. The song traced its origins to Nat King Cole, who recorded it in 1943, and it carried the warmth and rhythmic wit of that earlier era into every subsequent interpretation. By 1958, it had become what musicians call a standard: a composition resilient enough to survive translation across styles, tempos, and generations. When the DeJohn Sisters brought it to the pop chart, they were adding another chapter to a song that had already proven it could last.

The DeJohn Sisters in the Late-1950s Landscape

Julie and Dux DeJohn operated in the vocal harmony tradition that had produced dozens of successful acts across the 1940s and 1950s. Sister acts carried a specific cultural appeal in that era: the blend of familial voices produced a sound that felt both intimate and polished, and audiences responded to the implicit narrative of siblings who had grown up singing together. By 1958, the market for vocal harmony pop was crowded and competitive, but the DeJohn Sisters had the vocal quality and professional presentation to hold their own in it.

Two Weeks and a Peak at Number 73

The record's chart run was brief. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 18, 1958, at number 76, and the following week it moved to its peak position of number 73. Two weeks on the chart was a modest showing, but the record's presence at all on a Hot 100 that was among the most competitive in the history of popular music was itself a meaningful accomplishment. The chart in those months was dense with material from established stars and emerging acts alike; any entry represented a real commercial threshold crossed.

The Standard as a Living Document

What makes Straighten Up and Fly Right interesting as a choice for this moment in pop history is what the song itself carries. The original Nat King Cole version had drawn on a folk tale about a buzzard and a monkey, using the animal fable to deliver a message about trusting unreliable companions. By 1958, most listeners encountering it knew only that it was an upbeat, melodically satisfying song with a swing feel that made people happy. The DeJohn Sisters' version leaned into that pleasure without worrying too much about the fable underneath.

Pop's Relationship with the Jazz Tradition

The record exists at a specific intersection that would become less common as the 1960s unfolded: the point where jazz-era material and pop-chart ambition met on roughly equal terms. In 1958, the distance between the swing era and the present was only fifteen years, close enough that a song associated with Nat King Cole still felt current rather than nostalgic. Give Straighten Up and Fly Right a listen in the DeJohn Sisters' version and appreciate the ease with which two good voices can make a fifteen-year-old song sound fresh.

“Straighten Up & Fly Right” — The DeJohn Sisters' singular moment on the 1950s charts.