Lollipop (song)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lollipop is an internationally known, popular and frequently covered song made popular by the famous vocal quartet The Chordettes in 1958 . Lollipop is famous for its rhythmic clap and an amusing “pop!” Sound that sounds after almost every chorus .

background

Lollipop is designed for SATB (four-part acapella) and is accompanied by piano , bass guitar and rhythmic clapping of hands. The song is a mix of the genres Doo Wop and a capella - Jazz .

Inspiration for the song was ostensibly a private mishap which the songwriter Julius Dixon had happened: His little daughter had an extremely sticky lollipop been given. Somehow the lollipop got stuck in her hair and Dixon and his wife struggled to remove the lollipop. Because of this, Dixon was late for an important meeting with songwriter Beverly Ross . When Dixon told his colleague about the mishap, she was amused, and so they both wrote the lyrics to Lollipop .

Publication and Success

The text for Lollipop was written by Julius Dixon and Beverly Ross. Originally it was performed privately by the singing duo Ronald & Ruby , but the success was rather limited. When American record companies found out that Ronald Gumps (lead singer of the duo) was black and Beverly "Ruby" Ross (second voice) was white , the companies refused to perform the song in public. They also criticized the fact that certain allusions in individual lines of text regarding the word "lollipop" are lewd.

On March 10 , 1958, The Chordettes covered the song and landed an instant hit. Lollipop was number 3 on the US charts for 12 weeks, number 1 on the Canadian charts for 2 weeks and number 6 on the UK charts for just as long. In order to make the song more suitable for young people, a few of the original lines have been trivialized in terms of both content and language.

literature

  • Patrick Allen: Developing Singing Matters . Heine-Verlag, Oxford (UK) 1999, ISBN 0435810189 .
  • David A. Jasen: A Century of American Popular Music . Routledge, London / New York 2013, ISBN 1135352712 .
  • David F. Lonergan: Hit Records, 1950-1975 . Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2005, ISBN 0810851296 .
  • Stephen Nugent: Sources Of British Hit Songs: Writers, American Hits And Original Versions . In: Charlie Gillett, Simon Frith (eds.): Rock File 3 . Panther Books, Frogmore / St. Albans 1975.
  • Professor Jon Stratton: When Music Migrates: Crossing British and European Racial Faultlines, 1945-2010 . Ashgate Publishing Ltd., Burlington 2014, ISBN 1472429788 .

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Patrick Allen: Developing Singing Matters . Pp. 11-14.
  2. ^ Copyright Office, The Library of Congress: Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series , Volume 27.Copyright Office, Washington 1973, ISSN  0041-7866 , page 437.
  3. ↑ Anecdote on Dixon's inspiration for the song on songfacts.com (English); last accessed on June 24, 2020.
  4. ↑ Ben Sisario: Julius Dixon, 90, Songwriter Known for the 1958 Hit Lollipop . In: The New York Times, March 4, 2004, page 16. (English). Last accessed on November 8, 2015.
  5. ^ A b Professor Jon Stratton: When Music Migrates . Page 54.
  6. ↑ David F. Lonergan: Hit Records, 1950-1975. Page 133.
  7. ^ David A. Jasen: A Century of American Popular Music . Page 121.
  8. ↑ Stephen Nugent: Sources Of British Hit Songs . P. 142.