“Conference of the Birds” is my weekly radio program on WNUR-FM. It airs on Tuesdays from 5-7:30 am Chicago time (UTC-5). And, of course, when technology cooperates, you can just come here for the archives. You can subscribe to the podcast with this URL (click here to subscribe in iTunes).
So on Sunday I ended up at the Albanese Confectionery store in Merrillville, IN. It’s not quite Willy Wonka, but they do have a ton of great candy, including the freshest gummy bears you’ll ever get. After I came home with a big score, Faithful Listener No. 1 challenged me to do a thematic show, so here you have it. It was awfully easy to come up with a full show’s worth of songs referencing candy, sugar, honey and sweetness.
Enjoy!
PS I mentioned on the air this cool little set of recordings I found on the web of Rev. Gary Davis and Elizabeth Cotten in a private home, playing, singing and hanging out. The path to that was through this discussion of the language origin of “sugaree,” as in Cotten’s “Shake Sugaree.”
Listen:
download program (139MB, 2 hrs 31 min)
Artist: “Track” – Album (Label)
Big Maybelle: “Candy” – Blues, Candy and Big Maybelle (Savoy)
Eddie Banks and the Five Dreamers: “Sugar Diabetes” – 7″ (Josie 804) (Josie)
Aretha Franklin: “Since You’ve Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)” – Lady Soul (Atlantic)
Toots & the Maytals: “Sweet and Dandy” – Sweet and Dandy (Jet Set)
Bo Diddley: “Another Sugar Daddy” – Chicago Soul Electric Blues, Funk & Soul The New Sound Of Chicago In The 1960’s (Soul Jazz)
The Bees & the Honey: “She Don’t Deserve You” – One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found (Rhino)
Nina Simone: “Need a Little Sugar for my Bowl” – Nina Sings Nina (Verve)
Sidney Bechet’s Blue Note Jazz Men: “Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll (alt. take)” – Runnin’ Wild (Blue Note)
Duke Ellington: “Chocolate Shake” – Never No Lament – The Blanton-Webster Years (Bluebird)
Arsenio Rodriguez: “Daddy Give Me Candy” – Arsenio Dice (Tico)
Chocolate: “Chocolate en C7” – Son Cubano NYC (Astralwerks)
James “Sugar Boy” Crawford: “Night Rider” – Sugarboy Crawford (Chess)
Eddie Bo: “How Sweet It Is (Vocal)” – The Hook & Sling (Funky Delicacies)
Karen Dalton: “How Sweet it Is” – In My Own Time (Capitol Records)
Terry Callier: “You Goin’ Miss Your Candyman” – What Color Is Love? (Cadet Records)
Beth Orton: “Sugar Boy” – Trailer Park (Heavenly)
Velvet Underground: “Candy Says” – Velvet Underground (Capitol)
Dock Boggs: “Sugar Baby” – Anthology of American Folk Music (Smithsonian Folkways)
Doc Watson & Clarence Ashley: “Sweet Heaven When I Die” – Original Folkways Recordings 1960-62 (Smithsonian Folkways)
Woody Guthrie: “Little Sugar (Little Saka Sugar)” – Songs to Grow On for Mother and Child (Smithsonian Folkways)
Elizabeth Cotten with Brenda Evans: “Shake Sugaree” – Shake Sugaree (Smithsonian Folkways)
Django Reinhardt: “Sugar” – Djangologie USA Vol. 2 (Drg)
Stevie Wonder: “Sugar” – Signed, Sealed, and Delivered (Motown)
Wilson Pickett: “Sugar Sugar” – A Man and a Half (Atlantic)
Timmy Thomas & Betty Wright: “Sweet Brown Sugar” – Sweet Brown Sugar A TK Rhythm’n’Soul Compendium 1971-81 (Westside)
Sugar Billy: “Super Duper Love (Are You Diggin’ on Me) pt. 2” – FT2501 – 7″ (Fast Track)
Sugar Pie DeSanto & Etta James: “In the Basement pt. 1” – Go Go Power – The Complete Chess Singles 1961-1966 (Chess)
Los Po-Boy-Citos: “Sweet ‘Tater Pie” – New Orleans Latin Soul (superultramega)
Sugarman Three: “Turtle Walk” – Daptone Sampler (Daptone)
Marva Whitney: “Daddy Don’t Know About Sugar Bear” – Eccentric Soul: the Forte Label (Numero Group)
Ry-Co Jazz: “Blue Sugar” – Bon Voyage (RetroAfric)
Saka Acquaye and his African Ensemble: “Sugar Soup” – High-Life and Other Popular Music (Nonesuch)
Pello Afrikan: “Iliana Quiere Chocolate” – Bailar con Cuba (Blue Jackel)
Joe Bataan: “Sugar Guaguanco” – Gypsy Woman (Fania)
Rebirth Brass Band: “Sweet Georgia Brown” – Here to Stay (Arhoolie Records)
Soul Rebels: “Sweet Dreams are Made of These” – Unlock Your Mind (Rounder)
Soul Ensemble: “Melon Jelly” – Eccentric Soul: the Prix Label (Numero Group)
Medeski, Martin & Wood: “Jelly Belly” – Shack Man (Gramavision)
His Name is Alive: “Sweet Earth Flying” – Sweet Earth Flower (High Two)
Chris McGregor: “Sweet as Honey” – Sea Breezes (Solo Piano – Live in Durban 1987) (Fledg’ling Records)
Henry Threadgill: “Too Much Sugar” – Too Much Sugar For A Dime (Axiom)
