There are not many songs that I just don't like, and when coming upon the name Sammy Davis Jr. the immediate response is, "Well....I'd do 'The Candy Man'". My inner voice begins to remind me that this was a man who, in his day he was known as a great dancer, an actor on stage and screen (he was even nominated for a daytime Emmy for a reoccurring role on the ABC soap, 'One Life To Live') and a singer who's voice was easily lumped together with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Given that, I couldn't write about a song that trivialized the man and the movie that it was taken from (as an aside, the original "Willy Wonky and the Chocolate Factory is one of my favorite movies of all time and I didn't like the song as it was done in the movie either)
So let's talk about a song I'd like for you to remember him by....
He had began to hit the charts in 1954 with "Hey There" and "The Red Grapes", both which reached the top 40, but it was, "Something's Gotta Give", released in the spring of 1955 that became his biggest hit until 1972, and was his signature song. Written by Johnny Mercer, it was heard first in the Fred Astaire movie, "Daddy Long Legs" in 1955. The McGuire Sisters actually had the bigger charting success with the song (reaching #5), but almost 60 years later, it's Davis' version that is remembered.
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