| "Sweets for My Sweet" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Drifters | ||||
| B-side | "Loneliness or Happiness" | |||
| Released | 1961 | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Writer(s) | Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman | |||
| The Drifters singles chronology | ||||
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| "Sweets for My Sweet" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Searchers | ||||
| B-side | "It's All Been a Dream" | |||
| Released | June 1963 October 1987 (re-release) |
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| Format | 7" single | |||
| Genre | Merseybeat | |||
| Label | Pye Records 7N15533 | |||
| Writer(s) | Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman | |||
| The Searchers singles chronology | ||||
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"Sweets for My Sweet" is a song written by the songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman[1], originally recorded by The Drifters. The group's first single featuring Charlie Thomas on lead vocal, "Sweets for My Sweet" reached #16 (#10 R&B) in October 1961. This was one of the few post-1958 Drifters singles that did not feature a string section. It also featured four female backup vocalists, all of whom would later have hit records, Cissy Houston, Doris Troy, Dionne Warwick, and Dee Dee Warwick.
In 1963, "Sweets for My Sweet" became the debut single for Merseybeat band The Searchers, reaching number one on the UK Single Chart for two weeks that August. The Searchers' version was also issued in the US in the spring of 1964 but failed to chart.
"Sweets for My Sweet" was also remade in 1966 by Don and the Goodtimes - a sunshine pop band led by Don Galucci formerly of the Kingsmen - and in 1967 by Chicago area garage band the Riddles. In 1968 Cashman Pistilli & West remade "Sweets for My Sweet" under the name Central Park West.
"Sweets for My Sweet" was a 1969 single for the Sweet Inspirations serving as the title cut for their 1969 album cut at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with Tom Dowd producing.
However the only US remake of "Sweets for My Sweet" to reach the Hot 100 or any Billboard chart to date is that by Tony Orlando which reached #54 (#20 A/C) in 1979.
In the UK, Tina Charles remade "Sweets for My Sweet" in 1977 in tandem with "Love Bug". The track was included on her album Rendezvous and issued as a single reaching #26; however the single edit only featured one chorus from "Sweets for My Sweet" at its close.
In 1994, C.J. Lewis reached #3 UK with his remake of "Sweets for My Sweet" which was also a major hit in Austria (#9), the Netherlands (#4), New Zealand (#3), Sweden (#16) and Switzerland (#16); the track also charted in Australia (#45) and France (#69).
"Sweets for My Sweet" was also recorded by the Carnival, Italo disco singer Chriss and Manolo Muñoz (as "Dulces Para Mi Nena"), and Neil Diamond (on his 1993 "oldies" album Up on the Roof: Songs from the Brill Building.
| Preceded by "(You're The) Devil in Disguise" by Elvis Presley |
UK Singles Chart number-one single (The Searchers version) 8 August 1963 |
Succeeded by "Bad to Me" by Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas |
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