5 June 1964
The urban myth that a young pre-fame Rod Stewart played the harmonica on Millie’s ‘My Boy Lollipop’ got an unexpected second wind in 2016 when it was repeated in an interview by Millie herself. For what it’s worth, Rod says a session player called Pete Hogman played it, Hogman says he himself indeed played it, and in the grand scheme of things it’s hardly a detail worth obsessing. So, why? Is it because playing the mouth organ on ‘My Boy Lollipop’ is somehow a joke at the expense of Rod Stewart’s credibility? If so, let’s consider which is more laughable: playing on ‘My Boy Lollipop’ or the phrase “Rod Stewart’s credibility”. (Someone who does play on ‘My Boy Lollipop’ is Ernest Ranglin on guitar: if you have any old-school reggae compilation or Studio One sampler you’ll recognise his name and his abundant cred.)
The whole Rod harmonica legend captures a certain mystique around ‘My Boy Lollipop’: it sold a whopping seven million copies worldwide yet seemed to come and go like a flash of lightning, with no trace left behind other than a handy ’60s soundtrack signifier and an urban myth. There may also have been a degree of canniness on Millie’s part in keeping the song’s mythos on the boil. Something else she said in that 2016 interview—alas, far more credible—is that she received zero royalties from her biggest hit. (It’s also the lucrative smash that launched Island Records, later home of U2, but that’s hardly Millie’s fault.)
Its status as ’60s pop-cultural shorthand overshadows the importance of Millie’s ‘My Boy Lollipop’ as the first worldwide ska hit and precursor to the later mainstream success of reggae and other Caribbean sounds. It’s actually a cover version of a rather yodelly US ’50s pop single (by a girl called Barbie), hence its candy-based lyrical concerns, and any adult singing the word ‘lollipop’ will sound somewhat child-like. However, after that first line and weaker first verse, I really enjoy the tight, clipped arrangement and especially Millie’s sparkling vocal: she positively relishes the playful “giddy-up” and the more grown-up fire-desire rhyme in the far stronger second verse. In fact, ‘My Boy Lollipop’ has a lot in common with its contemporaneous US girl-group pop of the early-’60s, and Millie’s combination of fizzing energy and romantic yearning in the mid-section compares favourably to the mighty Ronnie Spector. So, ‘My Boy Lollipop’ is a little gem of ’60s pop and ska, thanks to a super performance by its singer. Cool harmonica playing too by Rod.
