"If You Wanna Be Happy" is a 1963 song recorded by Jimmy Soul, written by Rafael de Leon and adapted by Joseph Royster, Carmella Guida and Frank Guida.
The original single lists a running time of 2:14; some later releases are slightly longer due to an extended fade-out. The song was banned on several radio stations due to both its short length and the lyrics “Ugly girl/Woman”.
Towards the end of the track, a brief dialogue takes place between Soul and a backup singer, based on Bo Diddley's song "Say Man": "Say Man!!"/ "Hey baby."/ "I saw your wife the other day."/ "Yeah??"/ "Yeah, and she's ugly-y-y-y-y!!!"/ "Yeah, she's ugly, but she sure can cook, baby."/ "Yeah, alright."/ Soul's counterpoint melody in a falsetto is heard as the song fades out.
The song is played in its entirety in the final scene of the 1990 film "Mermaids" starring Cher and Winona Ryder. The movie exemplifies the message of the song quite well and is likely the reason it was chosen by the film's Musical Director Jack Nitzsche to close the film.
In France Claude François covered this song under the title “Si tu veux être heureux” in 1963. The song hit number 1 in France and number 5 in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium.
Joe Dolce cover of the song in 1981 charted in Australia and New Zealand.[4]
References
^Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 803.
^"London Group a Tight Little Island of Know-How in Putting Together Hits". Billboard. New York, New York. 1962-09-22. p. 4.
