“Daddy” by Sammy Kaye

At #1: June 21, 1941; July 12-August 23, 1941 (8 non-consecutive weeks)
Still alive? No. Sammy Kaye died on June 7, 1987

When looking up information for blog posts, I’d keep running across a certain adjective – “sweet”. There were sweet bands and sweet music and sweet performers, but there was no definition provided – you were supposed to know what that term meant. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to run across a definition:

Sammy Kaye led what was known during the Big Band era as a "sweet" band. A sweet band played pleasant, inoffensive music aimed at audiences who preferred their music to be in the background. Sweet bands were popular with people who liked to dance but weren't too good at it: they could count on rhythms varying from ballads to mid-tempo, but nothing too fast, too loud, or too energetic. No blaring trumpets, no extended improvised solos, no dramatic shifts in volume or tone--just the gentle, almost syruppy sound of saxes playing the melody in unison. Sammy Kaye's slogan was "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye," but it was swinging like on the front porch, not like Duke Ellington had in mind when he wrote "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)."

The impression is that “sweet” is a derisive term. Inoffensive pop or novelty music, and “Daddy” is a light, insubstantial song – but it is indeed inoffensive due to the catchy refrain. You could listen to this song over and over, and other artists like The Andrews Sisters would cover the song. You can go to YouTube and find “Daddy” covered by a number of artists, including a sultry version by Julie London.

I find the story of songwriter Bobby Troup more interesting. According to Las Vegas Strip History, Troup wrote the song as a student at the University of Pennsylvania for the Mask and Wig Club, a famed student performance group in 1941. He bought a Buick with the royalties from “Daddy” and planned to make it big in either New York or California.

Then the war came. Troup became a captain in the Marine Corps and returned to his goal of performing. He would write the song “Route 66” and would meet singer Julie London in 1954. London had just divorced Jack Webb who was by that time already famous for Dragnet. Five years later – after multiple postponements, probably due to the fact that marrying Troup would mean giving up substantial alimony from Jack Webb - Troup and London would be married.

Jack Webb was a fan of jazz music – you would expect that with his marriage to London. As he branched out into producing, he cast his ex-wife as a player in his medical drama Emergency! Since he was still on good terms with his ex-wife – and her new husband – he decided to cast Bobby Troup as Dr. Joe Early. The show ran for seven years on American television, to the point where most people (me included) didn’t know that Troup was a songwriter at all. I always thought he was some sort of character actor.

Anyway, for your amusement are versions of the song by Bobby Troup, Julie London and a clip from Emergency!