My ma gave me a nickel to buy a pickle’

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.