SONG OF THE DAY
“Sugar, Sugar” by The Archies (Everything’s Archie, 1969). Written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– “Sugar, Sugar” was a four-week 1969 number-one hit single by fictional characters The Archies.
– The album is the product of a group of studio musicians managed by Don Kirshner. Ron Dante’s lead vocals were accompanied by those of Toni Wine (who sang the line “I’m gonna make your life so sweet”), and Andy Kim. Together they provided the voices of the Archies using multitracking.
– When the song was initially released, Kirshner had promotion men play it for radio station execs without telling them the name of the group (due to the somewhat disappointing chart performance of the Archies’ previous single, “Bang-Shang-a-Lang,” which went to #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts). Only after most of the DJs liked the song were they told that it was performed by a cartoon group.
– The Archies’ hit wound up as one of the biggest (and most unexpected) #1 hits of the year, one of the biggest bubblegum hits of all time, both in America and in Great Britain, thanks partly to association with the hit CBS-TV Saturday morning cartoon series.
– The song lists at #63 on Billboard’s Greatest Songs of All Time.
– On February 5, 2006, “Sugar, Sugar” was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, as co-writer Andy Kim is originally from Montreal, Quebec.
– “Sugar, Sugar” is also considered to be the most produced recording ever after the breakfast cereal company Post Cereal placed millions of the records on the back of their Super Sugar Crisp cereal boxes.