30 October 1964
At thirteen words, ‘From The Candy Store On The Corner To The Chapel On The Hill’ is the longest title of any number one single in Ireland, holding off Sandi Thom’s ‘I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)’ by one word, without recourse to add-ons in brackets. It’s also one of Dickie’s signature hits, spending six weeks at the top of the Irish charts. Less favourably, this kept ‘Baby Love’ by The Supremes off the Irish number one spot.
I’m guessing the showband audience, hopped up on the dizzy live experience of a slow set and a shift off your parent or grandparent, sent this to the top of our charts. Slow is the operative word. The whole thing shuffles at a ponderous pace, and Dickie in covering the length of that title lyric gets overtaken by several glaciers. The cutesy Americana of the title is a fair indication of the song’s twee sentimentality: teen lovers eager to formalise the arrangement in the eyes of God. Unless, of course, round the back of the chapel was the local shifting spot. I’m making the assumption of a whole lot of shifting going on in 1964 Ireland; those teen Irish hormones needed some outlet other than emigration and this treacly ballad.
