"Candy Man" was written by Beverly Ross and Fred Neil. Ross was introduced to Neil at Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village after being suggested by publishing company Hell and Rage that they co-write. Ross had had success as a co-writer of "Dim, Dim the Lights" for Bill Haley & His Comets and "Lollipop", which became an international hit for the Chordettes. Neil, on the other hand, was yet to have such success having been writing, and also recording, for the past few years. Knowing that Ross had written "Lollipop", Neil wanted to write a "candy song" with her. Determined to have another hit, Ross agreed and Neil proposed the title "Candy Man", saying that in New Orleans, where he was from, "the prostitutes, y’know, the hookers all have a pimp, and they call him their Candy Man". Whilst Ross wasn't particularly pleased with this, she liked the title, so they wrote the song, "giving the title an affectionate, cute definition lyrically rather than the sleazy actual meaning it derived from".[4]
After ending her contract with Hell and Rage, Ross went to friend Aaron Schroeder, who had recently started his own publishing company, January Music. After being played the song, Schroeder loved it and sent Ross and Neil into the studio to cut a demo. Schroeder then gave the recording to producer Fred Foster who then cut the song with country artist Roy Orbison.[4] "Candy Man" was recorded at Nashville's RCA Victor Studio B on June 27, 1961, the day after the recording of "Crying".[1] The song prominently features a harmonica, performed by the then-relatively unknown Charlie McCoy. The success of "Candy Man" helped boost McCoy's career.[5]
Release
"Candy Man" was released as the flip side to "Crying" in mid-July 1961, whilst Orbison's previous single, "Running Scared", was still in the charts.[5] It was well-received, becoming Orbison's first B-side to make the US charts. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 in the first week of August, a week before the appearance of "Crying", and spent a total of fourteen weeks on the chart, reaching its peak at number 25 in the first week of November.[6] It entered the Cash Box Top 100 in the third week of August, spent a total of sixteen weeks on the chart and achieved its peak at number 34 in the second week of September.[7] "Candy Man" was not included on any of Orbison's studio albums, though it was included as a bonus track on subsequent reissues of Crying, and its first release on album was the compilation Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits in August 1962.
Brian Poole and the Tremeloes were introduced to "Candy Man" by Roy Orbison whilst they were on tour with him in the UK. Whilst in the tour coach, Orbison began playing his version of the song (described by Poole as "slower and more bluesy"), before suddenly telling the group "you can make this a dancer", playing it more quickly.[9] During the recording of the song at Decca Studios, the group wanted to have a "really dry snare drum sound" on "Candy Man", but due to the primitive multitrack recording equipment, this was hard to do. In order to get around this, they used advice give to them by Norman Petty about using a matchbox on some of the Crickets' songs. Tremeloes drummer Dave Munden taped a matchbox to his knee and drummed on it with one stick. Along with careful positioning of the microphone, this led to the desired sound effect.[9]
The single was released in January 1964 with the B-side "I Wish I Could Dance", a cover of a 1963 song by Jimmy Soul. "Candy Man" became the group's third top-ten hit in the UK and spent a total of thirteen weeks on the Record Retailer Top 50 chart.[3]
Critical reception
Don Nicholl for Disc wrote "there's something less dramatic about Poole and the Tremeloes this time out as they skip-beat to "Candy Man". After the weird, almost oriental twanging of the start the side provides a very catchy count. I think it has the mood for the moment, and it'll have customers chanting along in company".[10] In Record Mirror, it was described as being "much more original than his [Poole's] last", with "a crashing guitar [that] leads the way, and Brian [singing] the vocal with more than a touch of R&B in the delivery".[11]
^Orbison, Roy Jr. (2017). The Authorized Roy Orbison. Orbison, Wesley,, Orbison, Alex,, Slate, Jeff (First ed.). New York: Center Street. ISBN9781478976547. OCLC1017566749.
^ abOrbison, Roy Jr. (2017). The Authorized Roy Orbison. Orbison, Wesley,, Orbison, Alex,, Slate, Jeff (First ed.). New York: Center Street. ISBN9781478976547. OCLC1017566749.
^Hallberg, Eric; Henningsson, Ulf (2012). Tio i Topp - med de utslagna "på försök" 1961–74 (in Swedish) (2nd ed.). Premium. p. 286. ISBN978-91-89136-89-2.
^"Top 30"(PDF). Disc. February 22, 1964. p. 3. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
^"National Chart". Melody Maker. March 7, 1964. p. 2.
