Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy" is a popular song about

Pennsylvania Dutch The Pennsylvania Dutch (), also referred to as Pennsylvania Germans, are an ethnic group in Pennsylvania in the United States, Ontario in Canada, and other regions of both nations. They largely originate from the Palatinate (region), Palatina ...

cooking, with music by

Guy Wood Guy B. Wood (24 July 1911 – 23 February 2001) was a musician and songwriter born in Manchester, England. Wood started his career in music playing saxophone in dance bands in England. He moved to the United States in the 1930s, where he worked f ...

and words by

Sammy Gallop Sammy Gallop (March 16, 1915 – February 24, 1971) was an American lyricist, known for his big band and swing music, swing songs of the 1940s and 1950s. Biography Gallop was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He originally worked as a surveying, surve ...

. It was published in

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

Recording history

The song became a major hit in 1946 both for

Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, television personality, and the chart-topping female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the ...

and the

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though ...

orchestra featuring

June Christy June Christy (born Shirley Luster; November 20, 1925 – June 21, 1990) was an American singer, known for her work in the cool jazz genre and for her silky smooth vocals. Her success as a singer began with The Stan Kenton Orchestra. She pursued ...

on vocals. It also went on to be recorded by

Guy Lombardo Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo (June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977) was a Canadian and American bandleader, violinist, and hydroplane racing, hydroplane racer whose unique "sweet jazz" style remained popular with audiences for nearly five decade ...

and his Royal Canadians, and by

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

. Dinah Shore's recording (released by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

as catalog number 36943), reached the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine Best Seller chart on April 4, 1946 and lasted 2 weeks on the chart, peaking at number 7. It was narrowly preceded by Stan Kenton's recording with June Christy (

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

, catalog number 235), which first arrived in the Billboard chart on March 14 and remained for 4 weeks, peaking at number 8. In the Cash Box survey, where all versions were combined at one position, the song reached number 4 for the year.

Background

Small_slice_of_molasses_shoofly_pie_2022

Shoo-fly pie is a

molasses Molasses () is a viscous byproduct, principally obtained from the refining of sugarcane or sugar beet juice into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, the method of extraction, and the age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is usuall ...

pie common to both

Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine is the typical and traditional fare of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine reflects influences of the Pennsylvania Dutch's German heritage, agrarian society, and rejection of rapid change.David Rosengart ...

cooking and southern (U.S.) cooking.

Apple pan dowdy Cobbler is a dessert consisting of a fruit (or less commonly Umami, savory) filling poured into a large baking dish and covered with a Batter (cooking), batter, Biscuit (bread), biscuit, or dumpling (British cuisine, in the United Kingdom) befor ...

(or Apple pandowdy) is a baked apple pastry traditionally associated with Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, with a recipe dating to (according to Crea)Joe Crea, Cleveland-based food criti
"Apple Pan Dowdy is a crowd-pleasing old favorite"
''Cleveland Plain Dealer'' September 15, 2010 (retrieved March 30 2014) colonial times.

In popular culture

The song is frequently mentioned in

John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...

's 1988 novel ''

Rabbit at Rest ''Rabbit at Rest'' is a 1990 novel by John Updike. It is the fourth and final novel in a tetralogy, succeeding '' Rabbit, Run''; '' Rabbit Redux''; and '' Rabbit Is Rich''. A related novella, ''Rabbit Remembered'', was published in 2001. ''Rabb ...

'' as a favorite childhood song of the protagonist, Pennsylvania native Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. The 'Two Fat Ladies' refer to this song in their cookbook ''Obsessions'', as well as singing the song and cooking apple pan dowdy on an episode of their television show.

References

Songs with lyrics by Sammy Gallop 1945 songs Songs written by Guy Wood Guy Lombardo songs {{pop-song-stub