Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy

Last updated
"Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy"
Song by Dinah Shore
Published1945
Genre Pop
Composer(s) Guy Wood
Lyricist(s) Sammy Gallop

Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy" is a popular song about Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, with music by Guy Wood and words by Sammy Gallop. It was published in 1945.

Contents

Recording history

The song became a major hit in 1946 both for Dinah Shore [1] and the Stan Kenton orchestra featuring June Christy on vocals. It also went on to be recorded by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, and by Ella Fitzgerald.

Dinah Shore's recording (released by Columbia Records as catalog number 36943), reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on April 4, 1946 and lasted 2 weeks on the chart, peaking at number 7. [2] It was narrowly preceded by Stan Kenton's recording with June Christy (Capitol Records, catalog number 235), which first arrived in the Billboard chart on March 14 and remained for 4 weeks, peaking at number 8. [2] In the Cash Box survey, where all versions were combined at one position, the song reached number 4 for the year.

Background

Slice of shoofly pie Small slice of molasses shoofly pie 2022.png
Slice of shoofly pie

Shoo-fly pie is a molasses pie common to both Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine cooking [3] and southern (U.S.) cooking. Apple pan dowdy (or Apple pandowdy) is a baked apple pastry traditionally associated with Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, with a recipe dating to (according to Crea) [4] colonial times.

The song is frequently mentioned in John Updike's 1988 novel Rabbit at Rest as a favorite childhood song of the protagonist, Pennsylvania native Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom.

The 'Two Fat Ladies' refer to this song in their cookbook Obsessions, as well as singing the song and cooking apple pan dowdy on an episode of their television show.

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Guy B. Wood was a musician and songwriter born in Manchester, England. Wood started his career in music playing saxophone in dance bands in England. He moved to the United States in the 1930s, where he worked for Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures as well as serving as bandleader at the Arcadia Ballroom in New York. His songs include "Till Then", "My One and Only Love", "Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy". His song "Till Then" reached the pop charts three times. Wood also wrote songs for Captain Kangaroo and the Radio City Music Hall. Wood died on 23 February 2001.

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References

  1. Gilliland, John (197X). "Show 16" (audio). Pop Chronicles . University of North Texas Libraries.
  2. 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (1973). Top Pop Records 1940-1955. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research.
  3. Smith, Andrew F., ed. (2007). The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. Oxford University Press. p. 536. ISBN   978-0-19-530796-2. OCLC   71833329.
  4. Joe Crea, Cleveland-based food critic "Apple Pan Dowdy is a crowd-pleasing old favorite", Cleveland Plain Dealer September 15, 2010 (retrieved March 30 2014)