The Birds and the Bees (Jewel Akens song)

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"The Birds and the Bees"
Jewel Akens The Birds and the Bees.png
Single by Jewel Akens
from the album The Birds and the Bees
Language English
B-side "Tic Tac Toe"
ReleasedDecember 1964
Genre Pop, easy listening
Length2:08
Label Era
Songwriter(s) Barry Stuart

"The Birds and the Bees" was a 1964 single release by Jewel Akens that is said to have been written by the twelve-year-old son of Era Records owner Herb Newman; the songwriting credit on the Jewel Akens recording of "The Birds and the Bees" reads Barry Stuart, which is the song's standard songwriting credit. [1]

Contents

History

"The Birds and the Bees" was written with a lyric based on the "birds and the bees" idiom commonly referenced with regard to affording young people their introduction to sex education. An international hit in 1965, "The Birds and the Bees" was reminiscent of such 1950s' honky tonk-style hits as "Blueberry Hill" by Fats Domino and "Kansas City" by Wilbert Harrison. Some subsequent recordings (i.e. by artists other than Akens) identify the composer as Herb Newman (Newman had written "The Wayward Wind" a 1956 No. 1 hit for Gogi Grant). Jewel Akens had recorded one single for Era as frontman for the doo-wop group the Turn-Arounds in 1964 when Newman pitched "The Birds and the Bees" as the group's next recording; as Akens was the only group member to favor the song he recorded it solo, working through four or five different arrangements and thus considerably honing the song's original format. [2] Musicians on the recording included Tommy Turner on background vocals, Billy Strange and Ervan Coleman on guitar, Bob West and Arthur Wright on bass, Hal Blaine on drums and Leon Russell on piano.

Chart performance

Recorded at Gold Star Studios - with sound engineer Stan Ross employing the innovative technique of "chorusing" by patching the session guitarist into an organ speaker [3] - "The Birds and the Bees" afforded Akens a Top Ten hit in the first quarter of 1965 reaching No. 2 on the US Cash Box singles chart and No. 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart: the single also reached No. 21 on the US Billboard Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart. [4] It was No. 2 for 4 weeks on Canada's CHUM Chart, kept out of Number 1 by The Beatles and Herman's Hermits. [5] [6] The disc also had strong chart impact internationally reaching No. 3 in Australia, No. 6 in Belgium (Flemish Region), No. 3 in the Netherlands and No. 4 in Norway. In the UK "The Birds and the Bees" afforded Akens a more moderate hit, reaching No. 29, [7] with Akens besting a cover version by Johnny Kidd & the Pirates that failed to chart.

Other recordings

References

  1. "secondhandsongs.com". secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  2. "Jewel Akens". Rockabilly.nl. 1940-09-12. Retrieved 2013-02-22.
  3. "Stan Ross dies at 82; producer-engineer co-founded Gold Star studio". Articles.latimes.com. 2011-03-17. Archived from the original on March 20, 2011. Retrieved 2015-07-17.
  4. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 25.
  5. "CHUM Hit Parade - March 29, 1965".
  6. "CHUM Hit Parade - April 19, 1965".
  7. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 17. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  8. "45cat.com". 45cat.com. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  9. "www.discogs.com". www.discogs.com. 2 August 1965. Retrieved December 1, 2020.