Recorded - August 19, 1971
Released - December 1971
#1 for weeks of June 10, 17 and 24, 1972.
Two members of the famed "Rat Pack" have already been featured in past reviews of mine. Dean Martin had a #1 with his timeless "Everybody Loves Somebody". Frank Sinatra had one and a half #1's with "Strangers In The Night" and his duet with Nancy - "Something Stupid". So where does that leave the last of the big three, Mr. Sammy Davis Jr? Well, it turns out he had an unexpected and unfortunate #1 pop hit with "The Candy Man". Poor Sammy... he deserved so much better.
Of course, "The Candy Man" dates from the classic 1971 film adaptation of Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. In the film, the song is a lighthearted romp, which is soon overshadowed by some of the film's even more memorable songs. With the movie still fresh in everyone's mind, it's only natural that somebody wanted to capitalize on the its success. It's also natural that a song as lighthearted and twee as "The Candy man" did NOT need to be remade into a Vegasy showdance number. But then again, we don't live in a perfect world.
Sammy's rendition of "The Candy Man" announces its unsightly presence right from the very first seconds. We have a schmaltzy big band arrangement, a group of backing vocalists that make the Osmonds sound butch, and an overall saccharine atmosphere. While I'm not too familiar with much of Sammy's catalog, I'm confident that he sang far superior songs than this cavity-inducing sucrose overload.
If there's any consolation to me having to sit through this song three times, it's that I'm not alone in my disgust. Sammy himself found the song too sugary for his taste. Of course, with the song spending an outrageous three weeks on top of the charts, perhaps he was laughing all the way to the bank.
Final Verdict - "The Candy Man", as interpreted by Sammy Davis Jr, is an overly saccharine, overblown, overly dated rendition of a simple children's tune. I'm baffled that people in 1972 brought enough copies of this to have it summit on the pop charts for three weeks. In a year that brought us such progressive and innovative music as "Close To The Edge", it's baffling that such schlock was held in such a high regard.
Coming Up Next - "Song Sung Blue" by Neil Diamond.
Until Next Time, I'm Dr. Rock and I've had enough candy for quite a while -
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