The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #25426 Message #3856859
Posted By: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
23-May-17 - 08:25 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req/Add: If You Wanna Be Happy
Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: If You Wanna Be Happy
Joe Offer: "...written in 1963 by Frank J. Guida, Carmela Guida, and Joseph Royster." and here:
As noted, the lyrics are adapted/appropriated from Ugly Woman by Trinidad calypsonian Hubert Raphael Charles (1908 – 1999) (aka: Rafael De Leon; Roaring Lion). Swing your Euro-American moral compasses as you see fit. It was at least three decades old with maybe two dozen covers before the Guidas got a hold of it in 1963 at the peak of the pop folk scare and put their 'Norfolk Sound' stamp on it.
Frank Guida (1922 - 2007) was assigned to the (white) U.S.O. Club in Port of Spain, Trinidad for most of World War II. This was the same venue a USO touring Morey Amsterdam is alleged to have picked up on L'Année Passée (Rum and Coca-Cola) and some accounts even have Guida as a bit player in that fiasco as well. He ran the two biggest record stores in Norfolk, VA, USA for donkey years.
Frank's wife Millie Guida (1924 - 2008) was generally credited for bulk of the Americanized lyrics. She was a great cook and gorgeous and funny. Oh well!