Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?)

"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?)"
Single by Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group
B-side	"Aunt Rhody"
Released	1959
Format	7" (45RPM and 78RPM)
Recorded	New Theatre Oxford, 13 December 1958
Genre	Skiffle
Length	2:29
Label	Pye Nixa (UK) Dot (US)
Writer(s)	Marty Bloom/Ernest Breur/Billy Rose
Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group singles chronology
"Tom Dooley" / "Rock o' My Soul" (1958) "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?)" / "Aunt Rhody"[1] (1959) "Fort Worth Jail" / "Whoa Buck" (1959)

"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?)" is a novelty song by Lonnie Donegan. Released as a single in 1959, it peaked at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart.^[2] It was also Donegan's greatest chart success in the United States, reaching number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961.^[3]

The song is a cover version of "Does The Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?", a song first released in 1924 by The Happiness Boys (Ernie Hare snd Billy Jones),^[4] and later a hit for Lulu Belle and Scotty and The Two Gilberts. The song is humorous in content, the verses each describing a dramatic or urgent scenario leading up to the asking of the titular question.

The title and lyrics of the Donegan version were changed in the UK because "Spearmint" is a registered trademark[1] there, and the BBC does not play songs which mention trademarks.^[5] Donegan's version of the song was recorded live at the New Theatre Oxford in December 1958^[4] and was released both as a single as a track on the album King of Skiffle. An extended version with more banter was released on the live album The Last Tour.^[6]

Recordings

Since Donegan's version was released, it has appeared as a Smarties jingle, a performance on The Muppet Show, and re-worked into Czech by Jiří Grossmann. Additional versions of the song were recorded by The Irish Rovers and Homer & Jethro. In Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the character Randle Patrick McMurphy also sings a few lines of this song to prove Chief Bromden is not deaf by making him laugh at the performance. In 2010, Donegan's version was used as the background song for a satellite TV advertisement for Savlon antiseptic cream. It has also been recorded by Eric Nagler (1982).^[7]

Popularity

"Does Your Chewing Gum..." has been a popular song on the Dr. Demento Show, appearing 54 times between the show's premiere and 2006^[8] and selected for the Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection double CD.^[9] It was referenced on Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation. It was partially referenced in the lyrics of "Ahab the Arab" by Ray Stevens. It has also made an appearance on the children's television show, "Sharon, Lois, & Bram's Elephant Show" during one of their performances.

References

1. ^ Dave Waller. "Lonnie Donegan on vinyl". http://www.freewebs.com/lonniedoneganonvinyl/singles19551959.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-11. 
2. ^ "Lonnie Donegan - Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On The Bedpost Overnight)". Chart Stats. http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=2118. Retrieved 14 February 2011. 
3. ^ "Lonnie Donegan > Charts and Awards > Billboard singles". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/lonnie-donegan-p8434/charts-awards/billboard-singles. Retrieved 14 February 2011. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "everyHit.com Note". everyHit.com. http://www.everyhit.com/popup.php?songid=1143. Retrieved 2008-02-11. 
5. ^ Beerbohm, Max. 'London Revisited' in Mainly on the Air (1957) Heinemann, London.
6. ^ "The Last Tour > Overview". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r935173. Retrieved 2008-02-11. 
7. ^ Folk Music Index: Dip to Dom
8. ^ "Search current online Dr. Demento Show playlists". The Demented Music Database. http://dmdb.org/playlists/search_pl.html. Retrieved 2008-02-11. 
9. ^ Heather Phares. "Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection: The Greatest Novelty Records of All Time". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r54404. Retrieved 2008-02-11.