(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Sammy Davis Jr. - "The Candy Man"
Hit Number 1: June 10, 1972
Stay at Number 1: 3 Weeks
Artists that aren't crazy for their big hits is not a new idea, but Sammy Davis Jr. took that to a whole new level with "The Candy Man". "The Candy Man" was a song featured in the 1971 movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and was first performed by Aubrey Woods. As strange as the movie is, it still remains as one of the more important movies ever created, at least according to the Library of Congress, which selected it to the National Recording Registry. After production for the movie wrapped up, musician Mike Curb decided to record a version of "The Candy Man" with entertainment legend Sammy Davis Jr. on lead vocals, and have Davis sing with a children's choir. Mike Curb tried his own version, but it was unsuccessful. So why not try it with Rat Pack superstar Sammy Davis Jr.?
Well, it wasn't as easy as it might have sounded. Davis made a career out of making people laugh and sometimes humiliating himself along the way, but he wasn't having any of "The Candy Man". He didn't shy away from his disliking of the track, and he used a very colorful way of expressing that in ways that only Sammy Davis Jr. could. He said "This record is going straight into the toilet. Not just around the rim but into the bowl, and it may just pull my whole career down with it." Again, Davis sometimes said some pretty amazing things, and I haven't seen a quote that good in a long time. He might have saw his fellow Rat Pack buddies Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra top the charts earlier on, and they both hit #1 with not great, but at least decent songs. (I'm not counting the mediocre Sinatra/Nancy Sinatra duet) It's not hard to see Davis' lack of trust in the track as "The Candy Man" is an astonishingly stupid song.
Basically, it sounds like something you'd hear out of something dumber than Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It sounds like something you'd hear from a Nick Jr. cartoon. Davis sings very stupid ass lyrics like "Talk about your childhood wishes/You can even eat the dishes". It's nothing but annoying earworm material. But apparently, annoying ear worm material could work in 1972, and it somehow worked nicely for Davis. I could really live without the children's choir in the song, and Davis sounds like he's enjoying himself too much on a song it's said he hated. The one thing about it that is okay, is that it doesn't give me that overwhelming feeling of dread and cringe while I hear it. It takes a lot for me to give a song a 1, and "The Candy Man", even with how bad it is, isn't a 1. It's just really annoying, with an unfortunate earworm hook that's tied to it. It's also a kid-friendly song I suppose, so maybe I can give it a pass. A very reluctant pass.
So even though "The Candy Man" is a terrible song, it's not enough to tarnish all the great work he's done in his career. If you take the time to look at some of his work, you'd realize how funny this man was. He's one of the greatest entertainers of all time. So instead of focusing on his blunder of a #1 hit, I'll instead focus on the great things he's contributed to the entertainment world.
GRADE: 2/10
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