Music Blog

How Sweet It Is!

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday post,
‘Parts of the Day’. Jim has asked us to write
about a song that incorporates times of day.
Here’s my response to this week’s challenge.

© Freepik

The challenge this week at Jim’s Song Lyric Sunday …. ‘Parts of the Day’ …. suggested by pensitivity101, is to write about a song that includes various times of the day, such as –

night/evening/dusk/twilight/day/sunrise/daybreak/dawn

I figured at least one person is going to jump on the Kinks’ song “All Day and All Of the Night”, so I’ll leave that one alone and go with a little ditty from 1958 – long before many of you were born.

 “Sugartime” was a very popular song in its day. Written by the team of Charlie Phillips and Odis Echols, it was a huge hit for the McGuire Sisters whose recording topped the Most Played Chart in February 1958.

The lyrics of this song are about someone expressing their love and desire for their partner. The protagonist wants this person to be their sweet and loving companion all the time. They want to be held and promised eternal love, and they believe that being together with their love is like being in heaven. Overall, the song is a sweet and joyful declaration of love and the desire for a lasting relationship.

The mere mention of the name The McGuire Sisters evokes images of ‘50s Americana and comfortable, white middle-class life and aspirations. Their work was the perfect musical embodiment of the popular white culture of the period. They even came from a place called Middletown. Christine (1926-2018), Dorothy (1928-2012) and Phillis (1931-2020) McGuire’s mother was an ordained minister and the girl’s first gigs were in church singing for weddings, funerals and revival meetings; the trio had a rich, mellow sound and possessed a special knack for close harmony.

Around 1950, the McGuire Sisters were encouraged to try out for the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts program in NY. Their manner was so unaffectedly beguiling that they got an audition for the show; Godfrey was so impressed with the girls, he signed them up for his morning program. That was the start of a seven year gig that made the McGuire Sisters one of the most well-known vocal groups in the country.

The trio’s music continued selling into the late ‘50s to audiences who were impervious to rock & roll. In 1957, they came upon the song “Sugartime”; their recording went to #1 and stayed there for weeks, quickly going gold. The sisters charted a few more times in the early ‘60s but “Sugartime” represented a peak that they never achieved again. The trio recorded an album in 1965 but they were considered passé by then.

After going on hiatus, the girls re-emerged in a series of popular, well-received engagements in Las Vegas. In the years following, they made periodic appearances together and saw their hits from the ‘50s revived in numerous compilations devoted to the pre-rock & roll era. The McGuire Sisters outlasted almost every other pop culture icon who’d been around at the time they’d started out. They embodied an innocent and relatively sweet time in America’s history and the country itself.

This is “Sugartime” by the McGuire Sisters:

LYRICS

Well
Sugar in the mornin’
Sugar in the evenin’
Sugar at suppertime
Be my little sugar
And love me all the time

Honey in the mornin’
Honey in the evenin’
Honey at suppertime
So by my little honey
And love me all the time

Put your arms around me
And swear by stars above
You’ll be mine forever
In a heaven of love

Sugar in the mornin’
Sugar in the evenin’
Sugar at suppertime
Be my little sugar
And love me all the time

Well, well

Sugar in the mornin’
Sugar in the evenin’
Sugar at suppertime
Be my little sugar
And love me all the time

Honey in the mornin’
Honey in the evenin’
Honey at suppertime
So be my little honey
And love me all the time

Put your arms around me
And swear by stars above
You’ll be mine forever
In a heaven of love

Sugar in the mornin’
Sugar in the evenin’
Sugar at suppertime
Be my little sugar
And love me all the

Now sugartime (sugartime)
Is anytime that you’re near (that you’re near)
‘Cause you’re so dear
So don’t you roam (don’t roam)
Just be my honeycomb (honeycomb, honeycomb)
And live in a heaven of love

Sugar in the mornin’
Sugar in the evenin’
Sugar at suppertime
Be my little sugar
And love me (love me)
All (all all all)
The time

Sugartime
Sugartime
Sugartime

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Charlie Phillips/Odis Echols
Sugartime lyrics © Peermusic Publishing

The McGuire Sisters’ recording of “Sugartime” was a huge hit …. but they weren’t the only ones to record the song. Here are a couple of covers you may find entertaining:

This is a recording by British singer Alma Cogan who had a hit later in 1958:

Here’s Linda McCartney singing “Sugartime”; someone had the brilliant idea of doing a reggae version:

And last but not least, the Man in Black gave the song a his personal touch. Here’s Johnny Cash:

Parts of a Day

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday this week and every week. Be sure to follow the link and check out Jim’s site.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to some tunes.

That’s all she wrote. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy’s Notes 🖊️🎶, The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk, The Rhythm Section, et al., and are not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.

49 thoughts on “How Sweet It Is!”

    1. The very thing, I believe, that appealed to me from the first time I heard them as a child. There have been other famous singing sister acts including the Andrews Sisters, the Boswells, Pointer, and Lennon Sisters, as well as Ann & Nancy Wilson of Heart, the Bangles, Wilson Phillips, the Shangrilas, Sister Sledge, the Judds, Mona Lisa Twins, Larkin Poe and many more.

      Thanks, Christian.

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  2. Sugartime covers just about every time of day, so brava Nancy! I remember the song well from childhood, especially Alma Cogan ☺️

    You know, one of my considerations for today was to use the Kinks, but I would have gone with Waterloo Sunset ❤️☺️

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    1. That’s a brilliant song by the Kinks.

      Thanks so much, Christine! When I saw all the different times of day in the theme, Sugartime immediately popped into my head. It’s such a great song from a gentler time in the history of American music and America itself. I truly appreciate your wonderful comments.

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  10. Why yes, I do remember this one from the radio and singing along and hearing my mom singing along, too. Always a favorite. Interesting the other artists did this one, and not bad, at all, but still prefer the original. 🙂

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  14. I haven’t heard this one in years – fantastic choice for the theme, Nancy. I knew this as a kid, probably from the Alma Cogan version, and it was fun to sing along to when it came on the radio. I had no idea that Linda McCartney had done it but her version is charming.

    PS – If you had been feeling Kink-y you could have always had a Sunny Afternoon, too 😉

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  15. You definitely have caught me off guard with these choices! I had no idea this song was remade so many times, or by such a variety of artists. Your depth on the music prompts never ceases to amaze me.

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    1. When you’re older than dirt, like me, there isn’t much music that hasn’t been heard (except for the new garbaggio which holds no appeal). Thanks muchly, Violet. When something is loved as much as I love music, it’s a joy to talk about!

      PS – wait till tomorrow, wink wink

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