The Birds and the Bees (Jewel Akens song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "The Birds and the Bees" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Jewel Akens | |
| from the album The Birds and the Bees | |
| Language | English |
| B-side | "Tic Tac Toe" |
| Released | December 1964 |
| Genre | Pop, easy listening |
| Length | 2:08 |
| Label | Era |
| Songwriters | Barry Stuart (pseudonym of Herb Newman) |
"The Birds and the Bees" was a 1964 single release by Jewel Akens that is said to have been written by the twelve-year-old son of Era Records owner Herb Newman; the songwriting credit on the Jewel Akens recording of "The Birds and the Bees" reads Barry Stuart, which is the song's standard songwriting credit.[1]
"The Birds and the Bees" was written with a lyric based on the "birds and the bees" idiom commonly referenced with regard to affording young people their introduction to sex education. An international hit in 1965, "The Birds and the Bees" was reminiscent of such 1950s' honky tonk-style hits as "Blueberry Hill" by Fats Domino and "Kansas City" by Wilbert Harrison. Some subsequent recordings (i.e. by artists other than Akens) identify the composer as Herb Newman (Newman had written "The Wayward Wind" a 1956 No. 1 hit for Gogi Grant). Jewel Akens had recorded one single for Era as frontman for the doo-wop group the Turn-Arounds in 1964 when Newman pitched "The Birds and the Bees" as the group's next recording; as Akens was the only group member to favor the song he recorded it solo, working through four or five different arrangements and thus considerably honing the song's original format.[2] Musicians on the recording included Tommy Turner on background vocals, Billy Strange and Ervan Coleman on guitar, Bob West and Arthur Wright on bass, Hal Blaine on drums and Leon Russell on piano.
