Novelty Songs – What's It All About?

Reminiscing in my last post about those shiny white boots worn by Nancy Sinatra, reminded me that in December 1990, the novelty song Kinky Boots by those intrepid Avengers Patrick Macnee and Honor Blackman had made it to the top of the UK Singles Chart. Nancy had recorded the theme song to the Bond movie You Only Live Twice and Honor of course played infamous Bond girl Pussy Galore (wouldn’t get away with that name nowadays thankfully), so both ladies had a bit more in common than just a habit of wearing, and singing about, boots!

The reason that I know it was a hit in Dec 1990 is because I still have a copy of the 7-inch single in my collection! At that time BBC Radio 1 was aimed at a more mainstream audience and the Breakfast Show DJ was Simon Mayo. Every year prior to Christmas he championed an old ’60s novelty song and gave it copious amounts of airplay. Needless to say it always sold well and made it to the higher reaches of the singles chart, No. 5 in this case. I’m pretty sure my boyfriend of the time (now husband) bought it for my “hypothetical” Christmas stocking (trying to fit a record of any kind into a real stocking tended to be a physical impossibility).

Kinky Boots had been commissioned to accompany a short film about these fashionable items of footwear for the very popular early ’60s satirical TV Programme, That Was The Week That Was. The most obvious candidates to sing the song were the stars of the new spy-fi drama that was entertaining Britain at that time – The main characters in The Avengers were Steed with his bowler hat and umbrella, and Cathy Gale in her long thigh-length boots. This was a very new kind of role for a woman in television and Honor Blackman played her perfectly. The role must have led to her becoming the leader of the all-female Flying Circus in Goldfinger but there followed in her wake a string of other “Avenging” women namely Emma Peel, Tara King and in the ’70s, the iconic Purdey, who inspired a generation of girls to have their beautiful long hair cut into a bowl shape!

But back to Simon Mayo’s Breakfast Show on the radio – Unbelievably, the previous year the song he had championed was actually by our very own local hero, Andy Stewart. Andy had been a bit of an institution in Scotland in the world of light entertainment and presided over the excruciatingly embarrassing White Heather Club which ran for 10 years between 1958 and 1968. It portrayed a very tartanised version of Scotland, what with the kilts, the dancing, the accordions and all the other stereotypical falderals and although very popular with television audiences, if you were a kid like me, lapping up all the great music that was emerging from America and “Swinging London”, it was seen as very uncool.

But in his wisdom Simon Mayo must have discovered Andy’s novelty song Donald Where’s Your Troosers from 1960 and helped it reach No.4 in the December 1989 singles chart. This could be a difficult listen I grant you, but bear with it, as Andy was a great impressionist as well as a singer/comedian and his impression of Elvis (at 1:45) is still a really funny one.

Out of interest, the third of Simon’s attempts to influence the outcome of who might top the Christmas singles chart, was when he championed Always Look on the Bright Side of Life sung and written by Eric Idle. It had first appeared in the Monty Python film The Life of Brian and here it was back in the charts in December 1991, this time reaching the No. 3 spot. This song still resonates with us today and it has popped up quite frequently in the various blogs I follow of late – ‘Tis the times we obviously live in.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Monty Python:

So, “What’s It All About?” – I really miss that sense of community we used to get from all watching or listening to the same thing at the same time. If like me, you worked in an office back in the ’80s and ’90s, the topic of conversation first thing in the morning was whatever had been on television the night before (very memorable Wogan interviewees for example, and I think we all know who I’m talking about) and what the breakfast DJ had been playing as we got ready for work. Now all you get is, “Don’t tell me what happened, I’ve recorded it” or “I only watch Netflix and boxsets” or “I don’t listen to that radio station”.

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In an era with so much choice and so many ways to consume visual and aural entertainment we have lost what it was that used to bring us all together. The days of getting together for a sing-song around the piano have long-gone and now it seems we hardly ever watch or listen to the same things, at the same time. Maybe, just maybe, that is why I am enjoying the blogosphere so much – Once you are part of a little group, you end up all reading (watching and listening to) the same post at the same time and have a wee chat about it. It’s not the community of my parents generation and not even the community of 20 years ago, but perhaps it’s a new kind of community that works for the modern day world. I may not know much about any of you, but it’s nice that you take the time to drop by and leave some feedback – Whether I’m likely to get much feedback on a post featuring Andy Stewart remains to be seen, but here’s hoping!

Until next time….

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life Lyrics
(Song by Eric Idle)

Cheer up, Brian. You know what they say.
Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad.
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you’re chewing on life’s gristle,
Don’t grumble, give a whistle!
And this’ll help things turn out for the best
And

Always look on the bright side of life!

Always look on the bright side of life
If life seems jolly rotten,
There’s something you’ve forgotten!
And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing,

When you’re feeling in the dumps,
Don’t be silly chumps,
Just purse your lips and whistle — that’s the thing!
And always look on the bright side of life

Come on!