Sugar, Sugar by the Cartoon Band

[luisam]

The Archies were the group that performed on the Saturday morning cartoon Archie. The group itself was never seen, just the cartoon characters. The Archies television episode that first featured the song "Sugar Sugar" was the same episode that introduced Sabrina the Teenage Witch. That was around 1969, just before Sabrina got her own cartoon show.

 

The song was written by Andy Kim and Jeff Barry, and was performed by session musicians including Kim, Toni Wine, Ron  Dante and Ellie Greenwich. Kim had a hit in 1974 with "Rock Me Gently"; Dante produced "Mandy" for Barry Manilow and "Heartbreaker" for Pat Benatar; Greenwich and Barry, who were married from 1962-1965, wrote many famous songs, including "Be My Baby" and "Chapel Of Love"; Toni Wine wrote the hit songs "A Groovy Kind Of Love" and "Candida."

 

According to Jeff Barry, he and Andy Kim wrote this song with preschoolers in mind since that was the audience for the Archie TV show. Barry had children aged 3 and 4 at the time. The "You are my candy girl" line came from them thinking about what kids that age like (candy!). Still, they wanted the song to appeal to adults as well, so they included a line with some weight: "I just can't believe

the loveliness of loving you."

 

In an interview with Toni Wine, she explained: "It just was a very easy session. Donnie Kirshner wanted to bring The Archies to life, which he did. And Jeff Barry was going to produce this fictitious animated group called The Archies. We went into the studio. Jeff and Andy Kim, who had hits on his own as a writer and singer, Jeff and Andy wrote 'Sugar, Sugar,' Ronnie was Archie, and I was Betty and Veronica. We went in, we did the record. It was a fun session, it was a blast, and at the session we just knew that this was something, and something huge was going to happen. We didn't really know how huge, but it was huge. In fact, Ray Stevens had been in town, who's an incredible songwriter, singer, producer, musician, and we were going to just grab a bite to eat, so I told him to meet me at the studio, pick me up, and then we'll go eat. And he wound up handclapping on 'Sugar, Sugar.'"

 

The song was initially released in late May 1969, on the Calendar label (the same label as two previous Archies singles with disappointing chart performance, achieving moderate chart success in the early summer in some radio markets. Then it was re-released mid-July 1969, on the Kirshner label, whereby it then attained massive success nationwide by late summer/early fall.

 

The Archies' hit wound up as one of the biggest (and most unexpected) number-one hits of the year, one of the biggest bubble gum hits of all time. It reached number one in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1969 and stayed there for four weeks. It was also number one on the UK Singles chart in that same year for eight weeks. The song became a hit again in 1970 when rhythm and blues and soul singer Wilson Pickett took it back onto the charts. I guess every little kid back in '69 had a copy of this on 45. It beat out songs by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Jackson 5, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, and Stevie Wonder. It was also a huge hit in the UK, where it stayed at #1 for eight weeks.

 

The Archies group was put together by Don Kirshner, a prolific promoter and producer. Kirshner also created The Monkees, and wanted to do the same thing with cartoon characters because they are much easier to work with than people. By the way, Andy Kim, who co-wrote "Sugar Sugar" with Songwriters Hall of Famer Jeff Barry, confirmed that contrary to popular belief, this song was never offered to The Monkees. It was always intended for The Archies. Not only was "Sugar, Sugar" NOT ever offered to The Monkees, there was no guarantee that it would have been a worldwide phenomenon. Obviously the singing and production would have been different than The Archies production was.

 

Sometimes people wonder if the lyrics contain some sexual innuendo. Toni Wine set us straight: "'Give me some sugar' is a very old-fashioned saying. It can refer to people kissing each other, that's sugar. Dogs licking you, that's 'Gimme some sugar.' Sugar is just a form of love."

 

And, of course there is the inevitable "drug conspiracy theory". It is funny how people read a bunch of BS into a song lyric and act like it's gospel truth. "Don't you know? This song is about drugs!" According to "analysts", of course everybody knows this is a song about drug use. Back in 1969, "sugar" was a street term for cocaine, and "honey" meant pot. You guys all really mean to tell me you didn't know that? I guess you're too young to know these things. And  "Pour Sugar On Me" is a reference to LSD, which was taken in sugar cubes. It's NOT a kinky sexual reference like everyone else probably thinks it is. You see, in Freudian criticism, literature and art are always about sex, but music is always about drugs.

 

A degree of mystery surrounded the identity of The Archies as this song rose up the charts. Says Wine, "It was a secret who we were. In fact, the New Year's Eve countdown of trivia, for years one of the questions would be 'What group never appeared together, never went on the road together, never interviewed together, as the group, and had a #1 song?' and people wouldn't get it. It was hilarious. But Ronnie and I, in the last few years we've actually done three performances as The Archies. We didn't do it for 30-some-odd years, but in the last three years we did for the MDA, the Jerry Lewis Telethon, which of course Tony Orlando hosts out of New York, and has been hosting since day one. It was very, very cool. And we also did it when I did a one-woman show at Genghis Cohen in West Hollywood. And then about a month ago (2007) we did a special part for David Gest. And we did it there. It was a hoot."

 

Some of the artists who have covered this song include: Ike and Tina Turner, Tom Jones, and Bob Marley. Andy Kim recorded his own version in 1980 under the name "Baron Longfellow." Wilson Pickett recorded an R&B version the next year. There is even a hip-hop version by Heartclub.

The line, "Pour a little sugar on me, baby" inspired the title for the 1987 Def Leppard hit "Pour Some Sugar On Me."

 

A dance version by Olivia Newton-John appears in the 2011 movie A Few Best Men, where she plays the mother of the bride.

Obviously, the song provoked the rage of the "flower people" and the "sons of the '60s revolution". It was qualified as stupid bubble gum music. It was such a contrast to all the protest songs and thought provoking music of the late sixties, the meal of Dylan, the Stones and the post Sgt. Pepper Beatles. They called it the representative piece commercial crap that stood for all the bad things about mainstream pop culture and the media money machine! No longer were we singing about love, "Revolution" and an end to war, now it was the soundtrack to a f()@#ing cartoon! And it was being "pushed" on unsuspecting CHILDREN through the infernal "Boob Tube" and subsequently. the radio waves.! They even accused Wilson Pickett for covering it, in an effort to "make it more relevant"! Such calculated mind control of youth on the part of the capitalist media moguls!... It goes without saying that it was onsidered it very,very uncool at the time by those guys! Of course, also trying to come of age, they hated any and all references to "kid stuff" like "Saturday morning cartoons" which, of course was this song's spawn! ...and had conveniently neglected to acknowledge that most had been the viewership/listenership that had lapped-up The Beatles cartoons!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[straycat19]

There were a lot of us to whom the so-called protest and revolution songs didn't appeal and upbeat songs like Sugar,Sugar were uplifting to listen to.  At the time it came out I was on my second tour in Nam.  Although I have to admit that some of the protest songs we turned around and became our 'theme' songs, like Country Joe and the Fish's song Gonna Die Rag.  We use to sing it as a taunt that nothing could kill us. "And it's 1-2-3 what are we fighting for, don't ask me I don't give a damn, next stop is Vietnam, And it's 4-5-6 open up pearly gates, ain't no use in wondering why, Whopee we all going to die."

[funkyy]

It's a perfect example of a quality catchy wee song. There's always been a kind of snobbery among music listeners (heavy rock fans criticizing teenyboppers etc) but music covers a very wide spectrum and there's room for all kinds of music and all tastes. It'd be a dull world if we all liked or only had access to the same content. I like everything from A to Z...but as I said before, I just can't enjoy jazz or (c)rap lol.

[humble3d]

10 hours ago, straycat19 said:

There were a lot of us to whom the so-called protest and revolution songs didn't appeal and upbeat songs like Sugar,Sugar were uplifting to listen to.  At the time it came out I was on my second tour in Nam.  Although I have to admit that some of the protest songs we turned around and became our 'theme' songs, like Country Joe and the Fish's song Gonna Die Rag.  We use to sing it as a taunt that nothing could kill us. "And it's 1-2-3 what are we fighting for, don't ask me I don't give a damn, next stop is Vietnam, And it's 4-5-6 open up pearly gates, ain't no use in wondering why, Whopee we all going to die."

 

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