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The Pipkins Capitol 2819 July 1970 Billboard: #9 
Greenaway provided the falsetto, the pianola's part; while the metronome was given voice by Burrows who utilized what he called his "hairy caveman" or "throwaway, spoken, bass-crook."
The Pipkins session was assembled by producer John Burgess. During the '60s, John had helped create hit disks for Freddie & The Dreamers, Manfred Mann, Peter & Gordon, and Adam Faith. Soon after "Gimme Dat Ding," Burgess would do it again and assemble yet another studio group, The English Congregation. Burrows (b. Apr. 14, 1942, Exeter, England) was a one-time member of an evolving assortment of British groups, the Kestrels, who toured with the Beatles; the Ivy League; and the Flowerpot Men. Burrows' voice pops up quite frequently in '70s pop history footnotes for his work with numerous successful studio-only units. Earlier in 1970, Burrows had sang lead on "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes" by Edison Lighthouse, "United We Stand" by the Brotherhood of Man, and "My Baby Loves Lovin'" by White Plains. Post-Pipkins, he would reemerge with "Beach Baby," a 1974 hit for First Class. Less notoriety would be accorded his offering as Kincade, Domino, Touch, Magic, and the West End Boys. David "Roger" Greenaway (b. Aug. 23, 1942, Southmead, England) and Burrows had both been members in the Kestrels. Greenaway, with yet another Kestrel, John "Roger" Cook went on to become One-Hit Wonders in the States as David & Jonathan -- in the successful tradition of Chad & Jeremy and Peter & Gordon -- with their George Martin-produced remake of the Beatles' "Michelle." Thereafter -- together of apart -- Greenaway was responsible for much jingle-writing, session work, and composing; notably "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again," "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman," "Doctor's Orders," and "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" -- to name but a few. In 1983, he was appointed the Chairman of the British Performing Rights Society. "Gimme Dat Ding" was an Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood composition commissioned for a British TV series. "I obviously had children in mind," explained Hammond to Martin Aston of Q magazine, "but I love rhythmic things, like American novelty songs. The story I wrote was of a little boy and his grandfather clock which had lost its memory, who meet various types of machinery on their odyssey, like the Angry Drain, the Clockwork King, the Underdog, the Mighty Dictaphone, even. One was a metronome who has los his 'ding,' so he can't tell his beloved friend the pianola if it's playing a waltz in 4/4, 7/8...." Albert had scored in 1968 as a member of the Magic Lanterns ("Shame Shame") and wold have later pop success in the States with "It Never Rains in Southern California" (#5, 1972) and "I'm a Train" (#31, 1974). "It was a stupid song, wasn't it? I like it though," added Hammond, "because it reminds me of very good times, living in the country, and being very enthusiastic.... We're all silly inside at times. And that's an okay place to be." Interestingly, another "ding" novelty tune would become a hit in the US later in the decade, with Chuck Berry's "My Ding-a-Ling" topping the pop chart in late 1972. - Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, Billboard, 1998.  |
t all came about like this," explained The Pipkins co-lead Tony Burrows, Roger Greenaway and I were doing back-up vocals for Freddie & The Dreamers, for an album, a children's story, Oliver and the Underworld, that Freddie [Garrity] was doing a soundtrack for, that they didn't know how to approach. The song was actually about a conversation between a pianola and a metronome.... So Albert [Hammond, the tune's co-writer] said, 'Have you got any ideas,' and Roger and I just came up with these two silly verses. Eventually, the record company decided that this was probably single's material and released it. It was a hit; surprised me. Freddie was upset, it was the only song on the album that he didn't sing himself."
