SONG OF THE DAY
“The Candy Man” by Ray Conniff & The Singers (Alone Again, Naturally, Columbia Records, 2008). Written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– This is a song from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. It was written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley specifically for the film and does not appear in the original book or the 2005 film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
– It was sung by Aubrey Woods, who played Bill the candy store owner in the original film.
– It was most famously covered by Sammy Davis, Jr. a #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on June 10, 1972). The track featured vocals by the Mike Curb Congregation, who had earlier released their own unsuccessful version of the song. Davis was interested in playing the character of Bill in the original film. Although producers balked at the idea (and although he originally disliked the song), Davis eventually worked the song into his shows and it is now recognized as one of his signature songs.
– It has been used & covered many times over: as a jingle for M&M’s chocolate candies, in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle, in an episode of Scrubs (during a day-dream sequence where JD imagines his dream job: being the “Chocolate King” and having an office where everything, including Turk, is made of chocolate), in an episode of Ren & Stimpy, in the 2005 film Madagascar, by Michelle Pfeiffer (her character sings the song in an audition as a lounge singer in the film The Fabulous Baker Boys), in an episode of the The Simpsons, in an episode of Gilmore Girls, in an episode of My Name Is Earl, by Rush Limbaugh (as a mocking theme song for Democratic Party Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama), by Cibo Matto, sampled by Craig David (for the chorus of his song “Booty Man”), and many others.
– Joseph Raymond Conniff was hired by Mitch Miller, then head of A & R at Columbia Records, as their home arranger, working with several artists including Rosemary Clooney, Marty Robbins, Frankie Laine, Johnny Mathis, Guy Mitchell and Johnnie Ray. Because of the success of his backings Mitch Miller allowed him to make his own record, and this became the successful ‘S Wonderful, a collection of standards that were recorded with an orchestra and a wordless singing chorus (four men, four women).
– In 1959 he started the Ray Conniff Singers (12 women and 13 men) and released the album It’s the Talk of the Town. This group brought him the biggest hit he ever had in his career: Somewhere My Love (1966). The title track of the album was written to the music of “Lara’s Theme” from the film Doctor Zhivago, and was a top 10 single in the US. The album also reached the US top 20 and went platinum, and Conniff won a Grammy. Also extraordinarily successful was Christmas with Conniff (1959). Nearly fifty years after its release, in 2004, Conniff was posthumously awarded with a platinum album/CD.
VIDEO OF THE DAY
Not quite the same song, but it’s a fun video.