Today’s classic song of the day is a bubblegum earworm by that famous cartoon band, the Archies. The song is “Sugar, Sugar,” and you know you love it.
Yes, the Archies were a cartoon band, created for the Saturday morning The Archie Show program, but “Sugar, Sugar” was recorded by a bevy of talented studio musicians. Those musicians included the ubiquitous (at the time) Ron Dante on lead vocals; Andy Kim, Toni Wine, and Ellie Greenwich on background vocals; Dave Appell, Sal DiTroia, and Mr. Kim on guitars; Ron Frangipane on keyboards; Joe Mack on bass; and East Coast studio ace Gary Chester on drums.
Interesting fact: Ray Stevens, famous singer he, was passing by the studio at the time and contributed some of the handclaps you hear on the recording. Jeff Barry and Toni Wine were also clapping.
“Sugar, Sugar” was written by Andy Kim and the legendary Jeff Barry, produced by the equally legendary Don Kirshner for his own Calendar Records. (It was a bright orange label, if I recall.) Released in May of 1969 (then re-released in July of that year on the Kirshner Records label), it was a global hit, reaching the #1 position in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Rhodesia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. Here in the U.S., it peaked at #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100 charts. Billboard and Cash Box both ranked “Sugar, Sugar” as the #1 song for all of 1969.
Here’s what Andy Kim remembers about writing the song:
“It wasn’t written for anything other than to satisfy a Saturday morning animated show. ‘Sugar, Sugar’ was one of those songs that I kept humming. I kept loving it. It would not leave me. And with the magical mind of Jeff Barry, a great record was made. There was no time to analyze and to pontificate and to see if it made any sense. The writing and the recording and the euphoria of being part of it just excited me.”
Kim’s writing partner Jeff Barry concurred, saying they wrote “Sugar, Sugar” with preschoolers in mind. I can vouch for their success with that target audience, as all of my grandkids have gone through a period of being fascinated by this song. Maybe it’s because the song was designed to be easy to remember and easy to sing. Maybe it’s because it’s actually a well-written tune, lyrics aside. Maybe it’s because of the accompanying cartoon. (They love Hot Dog; me, I’ve always been a Betty kind of guy.) Anyways, I kind of dismissed it fifty years ago when I was a very mature sixth grader, but have come to appreciate it since.
Which brings us to today’s daily bonus video of the day, “Sugar, Sugar” as it was first introduced on The Archie Show. Think of it as a proto music video for the kiddos.
