Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

"Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep"
Single by Lally Stott
from the album Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep[1]
B-side	Henry James
Released	1971
Recorded	1971
Writer(s)	Lally Stott

"Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep"
Single by Middle of the Road
B-side	Rainin' and Painin'
Released	1971
Middle of the Road singles chronology
"Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" (1971) "Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum" (1971)

"Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" is a song recorded in early 1971 by its composer Lally Stott,^[2] and made popular later that year by Scottish band Middle of the Road for whom it was a UK number one chart hit.^[3] That version is one of the fewer than thirty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) copies worldwide.

The original recording, by its composer Stott, was a good hit in France (Top 15), a minor hit in Italy and Australia as well as on the Billboard Hot 100, where it charted but failed to achieve significant success. Stott's record company Philips were reluctant to release it overseas so he offered it to Scottish folk-pop group Middle Of The Road who were working in Italy at the time. The song became a large hit on the continent initially but became a hit in the UK as returning holidaymakers searched out a copy. It nearly flopped in the UK as Mac and Katie Kissoon released a version just before them, but aided by the patronage of DJ Tony Blackburn it became a massive hit. It reached #1 in the UK for five weeks in June 1971, whilst the Kissoon version failed to chart in the UK but reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Dismissed by critics as bubblegum at the time, this was also a view initially held by band leader Ken Andrews: "We were as disgusted with the thought of recording it as most people were at the thought of buying it. But at the end of the day, we liked it."

The song appears as a cover on a 1973 live record by the Little Angels Children’s Folk Ballet of Korea.

It was later referenced in the Denim song Middle of the Road in 1992, and more recently covered by novelty act Cartoons.

It is featured in the Neil Jordan film Breakfast on Pluto.

The song has been covered in many languages, including Catalan, Vietnamese, Khmer, Korean, Spanish and German. A dance song in German to the same tune, Reiss die Hütte ab (Tear The Hut Down), was recorded by Mickie Krause (Apres Ski Hits 2003).

The PJ Harvey song Nina In Ecstasy contains an interpolation of the lines "Where's your mama gone (Where's your mama gone) / Far far away".

The song was featured on the Top of the Pops, Volume 18 album.

The song was also covered by the British band Lush in 1990 and released on the compilation album Alvin Lives (in Leeds).

Norwegian comedy duo Tom Mathisen and Herodes Falsk made a tongue-in-cheek parody of this song in Norwegian for their album Børre & Gibb's Happy Hour (52 min.) (1995).

The name of the song was parodied in the title of Father Ted episode Chirpy Burpy Cheap Sheep.

Preceded by "Knock Three Times" by Dawn

UK number one single (Middle of the Road version) 19 June 1971, for five weeks

Succeeded by "Get It On" by T Rex

References

1. ^ Lally Stott- Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep album @Discogs.com Retrieved 9/2/2011.
2. ^ http://www.last.fm/music/Lally+Stott Lally Stott
3. ^ BBC - Top of the Pops 2 - Where Are They Now?