Sweets for My Sweet

"Sweets for My Sweet" is a song written by the songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman,^[2] originally recorded by The Drifters.

The Drifters version

The group's first single featuring Charlie Thomas on lead vocal, "Sweets for My Sweet" reached No. 16 on the Hot 100 and No. 10 on the R&B chart, in October 1961.^[3] This was one of the few post-1958 Drifters singles that did not feature a string section. It also featured Jimmy Radcliffe and four female backup vocalists, all of whom would later have hit records, Cissy Houston, Doris Troy, Dionne Warwick, and Dee Dee Warwick. the recording also features an up in front piano provided by the song's co-writer, Mort Shuman. Other musicians on the recording included George Barnes and Allan Hanlon on Guitar, Abie Baker on bass, Ed Shaughnessey and Gary Chester on drums and Bobby Rosengarden and Ray Kessler on percussion.^[4]

Cover versions

• 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.^[1][5] The Searchers' version was also issued in the US in the spring of 1964, but failed to chart.
• "Sweets for My Sweet" was 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.
• 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.
• 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 and #20 on the Hot Adult Contemporary chart in 1979.^[6]
• 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.
• In 1995, Brian Wilson recorded "Sweets for My Sweet" on " 'Til The Night Has Gone - A Tribute To Doc Pomus".

References