old daughter Laurie  came home from school one day and announced that she had just  received a polio vaccine. Thinking that the vaccine had been  administered as a shot, Sherman asked, "Did it hurt?" She replied,  "No. They just gave it to me on a cube of sugar and I swallowed it  down." Sherman tried the idea on his brother the following morning,  Richard put the phrase to music and "A Spoonful of Sugar" was born.