Aileen Stanley - When My Sugar Walks Down the Street (1925)

Aileen Stanley with Gene Austin

"When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" on Victor 19585

January 30, 1925.

I know a thing or two
And I'm a-telling you
I got a wonderful pal.
He's got the cutest style,
a billion dollar style--
just a wonderful pal!

I just feel so happy
'Cause I love her so
When she is by my side
I'm so filled with pride
I want the whole world to know

That when my sugar walks
down the street, all the little
birdies go tweet, tweet,
tweet, and in the evening
when the sun goes down
it's never dark if he's around

He's so affectionate, and I'll
say this: that when he kisses
me, I sure stay kissed.
When my sugar walks down
the street, the little birdies
go tweet, tweet, tweet.

On January 30, 1925, Aileen Stanley recorded with Gene Austin a song composed by Austin with Jimmy McHugh and Irving Mills titled "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" (Victor 19585). Austin himself recalls in the autobiographical Gene Austin's Ol' Buddy (Augury Press, 1984) that Nat Shilkret had asked music publisher Mills to send to the Victor studio new songs suited to Stanley's talents.

Employed by Mills, Austin went to the studio. Stanley approved of the first song that Austin introduced, "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" (Austin does not mention that the Wolverines had recorded the song for Gennett on December 5, 1924, nearly two months before Stanley). Shilkret was so impressed by Austin's delivery that he invited the songwriter to participate in the session during which it was recorded.

This was Stanley's last record made with Victor's acoustic process (soon afterwards, in England, she made electric records for HMV). Austin had already attended Vocalion and Edison sessions, but as a Victor artist he would become incredibly successful. Many other singers, including Stanley, would follow in his footsteps by "crooning" on at least some records.

Stanley returned to Victor studios in August and made her first Orthophonic discs, the name for Victor's early electric records. She was immediately paired with Billy Murray though their efforts at "If I Had A Girl Like You" on August 20 and August 25 were rejected. From the August 20 session, only "You're In Wrong With The Right Baby," sung by Stanley alone, was issued. Making several takes in the early days of electric recording was not unusual. Stanley was more successful in making the transition from acoustic to electric recording than most other singers who had enjoyed success in the early 1920s.