Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor (On The Bedpost Over Night)

Infobox Single
Name = Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor (On The Bedpost Over Night) / Aunt Rhody


Artist = Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group
A-side = "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor (On The Bedpost Over Night)"
B-side = "Aunt Rhody"
Released =
Format = gramophone record, 45RPM and 78RPM
Recorded = The New Theatre, Oxford (Dec 1958)
Genre = Skiffle
Length = 2:29
Label =
Writer = Marty Bloom/Ernest Breur/Billy Rose
Producer =
Chart position =
* #3 (UK Singles Chart) (February 1959)
* #5 (US Billboard Pop Singles) (1961)
Last single = Tom Dooley / Rock O’ My Soul
This single = Does Your Chewing Gum / Aunt Rhodycite web |url=http://www.freewebs.com/lonniedoneganonvinyl/singles19551959.htm |title=Lonnie Donegan on vinyl |author=Dave Waller |accessdate=2008-02-11]
Next single = Fort Worth Jail / Whoa Buck|

"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor (On The Bedpost Over Night)" (the grammatically-incorrect "it's" for "its" is included in the title of both the UK and US releases) is a song which was the greatest chart success for Lonnie Donegan in the United States, reaching #5 on the Pop Singles chart in 1961cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=LONNIE|DONEGAN&sql=11:hifexqu5ld0e~T5 |title=Lonnie Donegan > Charts and Awards > Billboard singles |accessdate=2008-02-11 |publisher=AllMusicGuide ] , and which was also a major hit for him in his native United Kingdom. cite web |url=http://www.everyhit.com/ |title=UK Top 40 Chart Archive, British Singles & Album Charts |accessdate=2008-02-11 |publisher=everyhit.com ] It 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 & Billy Jones, cite web |url=http://www.everyhit.com/popup.php?songid=1143 |title=everyHit.com Note |accessdate=2008-02-11 |publisher=everyHit.com ] and later a hit for Lulu Belle and Scotty. 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 trade mark [http://www.ipo.gov.uk/domestic?domesticnum=1199994] there and the BBC does not play songs which mention trade marks. Donegan's version of the song was recorded live at the New Theatre Oxford in December 1958 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".cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gzfuxqrrldhe |title=The Last Tour > Overview | accessdate=2008-02-11 |Publisher=AllMusicGuide]

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.

"Does Your Chewing Gum..." has been a popular song on the Doctor Demento Show, appearing 54 times between the show's premiere and 2006cite web |url=http://dmdb.org/playlists/search_pl.html |title=Search current online Dr. Demento Show playlists |accessdate=2008-02-11 |publisher=The Demented Music Database ] and selected for the Doctor Demento 20th Anniversary Collection double CD.cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hcfpxqe5ld0e |title= Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection: The Greatest Novelty Records of All Time |author=Heather Phares |accessdate=2008-02-11 |publisher=AllMusicGuide ]

References