Sweets for My Sweet

"Sweets for My Sweet"
Single by The Drifters
from the album Last Dance For Me
B-side "Loneliness or Happiness"
Released July 2, 1961
Genre Soul, R&B, pop
Label Atlantic
Songwriter(s) Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman
The Drifters singles chronology
"Please Stay"
(1961)		 "Sweets for My Sweet"
(1961)		 "Room Full of Tears"
(1961)

"Please Stay"
(1961)		 "Sweets for My Sweet"
(1961)		 "Room Full of Tears"
(1961)
"Sweets for My Sweet"
Single by The Searchers
from the album Meet The Searchers
B-side "It's All Been a Dream"
Released June 1963
October 1987 (re-release)
Format 7" single
Genre Merseybeat
Length 2:31
Label Pye 7N15533[1]
Songwriter(s) Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman[1]
Producer(s) Tony Hatch[1]
The Searchers singles chronology
"Sweets for My Sweet"
(1963)		 "Sugar and Spice"
(1963)

"Sweets for My Sweet"
(1963/1987)		 "Sugar and Spice"
(1963)

"Sweets for My Sweet" is a song written by the songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman,[2] originally recorded by The Drifters.

The Drifters version

The group's first single featuring Charlie Thomas on lead vocal, "Sweets for My Sweet" reached No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 on the R&B chart, in October 1961.[3] This was one of the few post-1958 Drifters singles that did not feature a string section. The song has a strong piano and bongo- led Cuban-style cha-cha rhythm. It also featured Jimmy Radcliffe and four female backup vocalists, all of whom would later have hit records, Cissy Houston, Doris Troy, Dionne Warwick, and Dee Dee Warwick. The recording also features an up in front piano provided by the song's co-writer, Mort Shuman. Other musicians on the recording included George Barnes and Allan Hanlon on guitar, Abie Baker on bass, Ed Shaughnessy and Gary Chester on drums and Bobby Rosengarden and Ray Kessler on percussion.[4]

Cover versions

  • In 1963, "Sweets for My Sweet" became the debut single for Merseybeat band The Searchers, reaching number one on the UK Single Chart for two weeks that August.[1][5] The Searchers' version was also issued in the US in the spring of 1964, but failed to chart.
  • In 1965, The Buckinghams released this song as a single.
  • The McCoys released a version of the song on their 1966 album, You Make Me Feel So Good.[6]
  • "Sweets for My Sweet" was remade in 1966 by Don and the Goodtimes - a sunshine pop band led by Don Galucci formerly of the Kingsmen - and in 1967 by Chicago area garage band, the Riddles.
  • In 1968 Cashman Pistilli & West remade "Sweets for My Sweet" under the name Central Park West.
  • "Sweets for My Sweet" was a 1969 single for the Sweet Inspirations serving as the title cut for their 1969 album cut at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with Tom Dowd producing.
  • In the UK, Tina Charles remade "Sweets for My Sweet" in 1977 in tandem with "Love Bug". The track was included on her album Rendezvous and issued as a single reaching #26; however the single edit only featured one chorus from "Sweets for My Sweet" at its close.
  • In 1975, the British band Magnum released it as their first single.
  • The only US remake of "Sweets for My Sweet" to reach the Hot 100 or any Billboard chart to date is that by Tony Orlando which reached #54 and #20 on the Hot Adult Contemporary chart in 1979.[7]
  • In 1994, C.J. Lewis reached #3 UK with his remake of "Sweets for My Sweet". It had its biggest success in New Zealand, peaking at #3 for 2 weeks. After debuting at #6, it then spent a further impressive 10 consecutive weeks inside the top 10. After dropping to #11 the following week, it bounced back to #6 again. 6 weeks later after fluctuating around the top 40, it returned for one final week in the top 10, at #10. A total of 24 weeks on the chart, with 13 of those inside the Top 10. It was also a major hit in Austria (#9), the Netherlands (#4), Sweden (#16) and Switzerland (#16); the track also charted in Australia (#45) and France (#69).
  • "Sweets for My Sweet" was also recorded by the Carnival, Italo disco singer Chriss and Manolo Muñoz (as "Dulces Para Mi Nena"), and Neil Diamond (on his 1993 "oldies" album Up on the Roof: Songs from the Brill Building.
  • In 1995, Brian Wilson recorded "Sweets for My Sweet" on 'Til The Night Has Gone - A Tribute To Doc Pomus, as part of the Andy Paley sessions.
  • in 2004, German pop group Preluders covered the song for their album Prelude to History.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. pp. 72–3. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
  2. ↑ "Doc Pomus - Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2007-06-27.
  3. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 173.
  4. ↑ "IN THE CAN : FEBRUARY 1961". Members.home.nl. Retrieved 2016-09-26.
  5. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 153. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  6. ↑ "The McCoys - You Make Me Feel So Good (Vinyl, LP, Album)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2016-09-26.
  7. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 186.
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