The “Golden Hits Of The 70s”
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PIPKINS
“GIMME DAT DING”
(Albert Hammond, Mike Hazelwood)
Capitol 2819
No. 9 July 18, 1970
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“It all came about like this, explained Pipkin co-lead Tony Burrows in an exclusive interview, 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 tunes 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.”
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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 “throw away, spoken, bass-crook:’
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“We did some television promotion, on ‘Top of the Pops,’ dressed as clowns–Sssh!–so that no one would
know who we were,” added Burrows. Then, they asked us to do more songs, and to do them in that vein.
Now, we knew it was a one-off thing. But we gave them the Coasters ”Yakety Yak,” which worked well as an
original by them; but it flopped [by us).”
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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.
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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.
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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 Won-
times in the States as DAVID & JONATHAN–in the successful tradition of Chad & Jeremy and Peter & Gor
don-with their George Martin-produced remake of the Beatles’ “Michelle.” Thereafter–together or 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.
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“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 lost
his ‘ding,’ so he can’t tell his beloved friend the pianola if it’s playing a waltz in 4/4, 7/8….”
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Albert had scored in 1968 as a member of the MAGIC LANTERNS (“Shame Shame”) and would have later
pop success in the States with “It Never Rains in Southern California” (#5, 1972) and ”I’m a Train” (#31, 1974).
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