Sugar, Sugar

Reading these famous lines outside the context of Jeff Barry and Andy Kim's tropical pop melody, they almost seem... naughty, don't they? Pour a little sugar on it, indeed! There's certainly no doubt about where the adult appeal of this song lies! Manufacturers of chewing gum, candy, and various kinds of dessert foods are always licensing "Sugar, Sugar" for use in advertising jingles. As a result, its fans have had to suffer hearing it in all kinds of bizarre permutations. No matter how commercialized "Sugar, Sugar" has become, though, it has never lost the distinction of being one of the essential rock 'n' roll songs of the 1960s. As for people who dismiss it as nothing but a silly Bubblegum tune, they're wrong ... and they've always been wrong! Even while The Archies were singing "Sugar, Sugar" thirty years ago on Saturday morning TV, it was scoring high on Pop, R & B, and Adult-Contemporary charts. A few years later, it charted Country! The hippie counterculture embraced it as a "head" song. Down in the Caribbean, they thought it was a reggae tune. In South America, it wqs a hot Latin dance number. In the United Kingdom, it was a disco favorite. No mere Bubblegum song gets that kind of across-the-board acceptance! Its global impact has been nothing less than astounding. Without a doubt, "Sugar, Sugar" has made life sweet for a whole lot of different folks in a whole lot of different ways over the years ... but couldn't you say the same thing about any number of classic Jeff Barry compositions?

Sugar, Sugar
Words and Music by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim

Sugar, awwwww, honey honey
You are my candy girl and you got me wantin' you
Honey, awwwww, sugar sugar
You are my candy girl and you got me wantin' you

I just can't believe the loveliness of lovin' you
(I just can't believe it's true)
I just can't believe the wonder of this feelin' too
(I just can't believe it's true)

Awwwwww, sugar, awwwwwww, honey honey
You are my candy girl and you got me wantin' you
Awwwwwwww, honey, awwwwww, sugar sugar
You are my candy girl and you got me wantin' you

When I kissed you, girl, I knew how sweet a kiss could be,
(I know how sweet a kiss can be)
Like the summer sunshine, pour your sweetness over me
(Pour your sweetness over me)

Pour a little sugar on me, honey
Pour a little sugar on me, baby
I'm gonna make your life so sweet
Yeah yeah yeah
Pour a little sugar on me, oh yeah,
Pour a little sugar on me, honey
Pour a little sugar on me, baby
I'm gonna make your life so sweet
Yeah yeah yeah
Pour a little sugar on me, honey

Ah, sugar, ah ah honey honey
You are my candy girl and you got me wantin' you
Whoa, whoa-oh, honey,
Ah, sugar sugar
You are my candy girl...

Kirshner Music/CBS Songs - BMI

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