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 entered the UK Singles Chart on 6 February 1959 and peaked at number three. The song is a cover version of “Does the Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?” written by Billy Rose, Ernest Breuer, and Marty Bloom and first released in 1924 by The Happiness Boys (Ernie Hare and Billy Jones), 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 there, and the BBC would not play songs that mentioned trademarks.Donegan’s version of the song was recorded live at the New Theatre Oxford in December 1958, and was released both as a single and as a track on the album King of Skiffle. An extended version with more banter was released on the live album The Last Tour. 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 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 (on his 1982 children’s album Fiddle Up a Tune); Ray Stevens covers the song as part of his 9-CD, 108 song box set The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music (2012)
Songs with Banjo from Harold Hagler
