I didn't buy a pickle (as the old song goes),
I bought some chewin' gum.
CHORUS: Chew, chew, chew, chew,
Chew chewin' gum,
How I love chewin' gum.
I'm crazy over chewin' gum,
I chew, chew, chew.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, even when my aunt gave me a quarter for soda water, and my pop gave me a dollar to buy a collar, and my uncle gave me money to buy some honey, I still went out and spent it all on chewin' gum.
And I'm not the only one.
Singer Kitty Kallen did the same thing (2:10).
So did Dean Martin and Ella Fitzgerald and Teresa Brewer and numerous others, but to have included them all here would be cruel and unusual punishment indeed.
Actually, I haven't chewed gum in a very long time, and I hadn't thought of the word "chiclet" for decades until this morning when I ran across this very interesting article:
"How A Mexican General's Exile In Staten Island Led To Modern Chewing Gum".
As a guy who grew up in Texas I am very familiar with General Santa Anna -- he's the one who killed Davy Crockett and 180-some others at the Alamo -- but I never knew until now about his connection to chewing gum. I'll bet you didn't either.
Live and learn.
I did not know of his connection to chewing gum. I do remember Ella Fitzgerald and Theresa Brewer and even Kitty Kallen singing that song. I just can't picture Dean Martin however.
ReplyDeleteEmma, I watched it and decided not to use it because it didn't include the entire song. Dean sounds like Dean no matter what he happens to be singing.
DeleteStrangely chewing gum is one of the things I found rather unpleasant even as a child. As a consequence it's a habit I have never acquired.
ReplyDeleteGraham, the habit I never acquired was blowing bubbles, which one can't do with ordinary gum anyway. It has to be bubble gum. On that count, the song is inaccurate.
DeleteSPELLING ALERT! SPELLING ALERT! On Kitty Kallen's single, the title is written like this - "CHOO'N GUM" and not "CHEWIN' GUM". America gave Great Britain chewing gum and now you often see it splattered on our pavements (American: sidewalks). For the big clean-up we should make Wrigley's pay in the same way that Mexico will be paying for the beautiful southern border wall. Choo on that dood!
ReplyDeleteNeil, I say that it was "Choo'n" but decided to modify it for purposes of this post to "Chewin'" in an attempt not to confuse my readers, who are confused enough just by virtue of being my readers. In America, much gum wound up under desks and chairs in schools.
DeleteGreat choon (tune) about choon (chewing) gum, tickled me. I wasn't crazy about chewing gum unless it was Double Bubble Gum, and even then my jaw would ache after a while. At one point Double Bubble had fake tattoos in them and every child as far as the eye could see had peeling parrots and hearts and heaven knows what designs on them. They looked a shiny and bright for around three days and then began the slow peel. Mothers across the land growling and trying to scrub the damn things off. There were ones less solid, more like watercolour pictures too but they weren't a patch on the bright shiny ones. I stopped chewing gum a long time ago and Yorkshire is spot on, the stuff is all over the pavements here. That tree sap sounds interesting, being tasteless with no smell one wonders why anyone started chewing it. Must be meditative in some form. Great post dear, I after hearing that record I shall always think of choo choo trains as being made of bubble gum. This is no bad thing.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, thanks for the compliment. Juicy Fruit was the kind of gum that was most popular in my area, although Dentyne and Wrigley's Doublemint had advocates too. I never tried any tattoos, washable or otherwise.
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