"My Boy Lollipop" is a song written in the mid-1950s by Morris Levy (under the pseudonym "Robert Spencer") and Johnny Roberts. It was originally recorded by the American singer Barbie Gaye and became a minor Rhythm & Blues hit in late 1956, spelled "My Boy Lollypop" (with a y") on the original 78 record label. It is most famous, however, for the 1964 recording by Jamaican singer Millie Small which became an international hit.

[edit] The Millie Small version

The song was discovered by Chris Blackwell, who was trying to find songs for Millie Small to record. Millie's version was recorded in a ska/bluebeat-style, and became her breakthrough blockbuster hit in Britain, reaching #2. It also went to #1 in Ireland and #2 in America. "My Boy Lollipop" was one of the few international ska hits and was the first record to help Blackwell's Jamaican label, Island, make millions. It remains one of the best-selling reggae/ska hits.

The record's arrangement is credited to Ernest Ranglin, who also plays guitar on the recording. A persistent rumor claims the not yet famous Rod Stewart performed the harmonica solo on the recording; Jimmy Powell has claimed he was the performer,[1] but many who have looked into the question say that the instrument was played by Pete Hogman of The Five Dimensions. Drums were played by Jon Hiseman who replaced Ginger Baker in Graham Bond Organization and also was in the seminal UK unit Colosseum as well as playing sessions for Andrew Lloyd-Webber musicals.

[edit] Cover versions and other uses

A cover version by Bad Manners, re-titled "My Girl Lollipop", was a UK Top 10 hit in 1982.
Swedish dansband Lotta & Anders Engbergs Orkester covered the song in Swedish, as "På min sommaräng", on their 1989 album Genom vatten och eld with lyrics in Swedish by Christer Lundh.
Steven Seagal covers the song on his Songs from the Crystal Cave album. The word "boy" has been exchanged for "girl" in the lyrics, and the song retitled to simply Lollipop.
In 1998, the song was featured on the Spice Girls' feature film Spice World, featuring the girls and two young competition winners singing along with the Millie record in the speeding boat on the River Thames.
A cover was done by Shivaree.
The King Blues covered the song and included it on Under the Fog as a hidden track.
The German band Die Lollipops has produced a song entitled Hallo Lollipop, set to the same melody as the original, but with lyrics in German.