Today, we move into the 1950’s for our selection of comedic songs. We begin with a collection of individual songs performed by a variety of performers.
“I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” is a novelty song composed in 1944 by Fred Heatherton, a songwriting pseudonym for a collaboration of English songwriters Harold Elton Box and Desmond Cox, with Lewis Ilda. The song was published by Box and Cox Publications (ASCAP). The song celebrates the coconut shy at funfairs, and the chorus of “Roll-a-bowl-a-ball-a-penny-a-pitch!” is based on the call of the showman “standing underneath the flare” of gaslight, inviting the public to play. The ball is tossed or bowled (as in cricket) or pitched at the coconuts with the object of knocking one off its stand. In 1950 it was recorded by the Billy Cotton Band Show and became a staple of their performances on radio and television. The song is still played over the public address at Cambridge United football matches after home wins.
“Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen by the Sea” is a popular song written by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning and published in 1954. It was a hit in 1954 in both the United States and United Kingdom, albeit for different artists. The best-known version in the United Kingdom is by Max Bygraves, with his performance recorded in June 1954, with a children’s chorus and orchestra directed by Frank Cordell, and released in the UK by HMV in September 1954. It entered the UK Singles Chart and spent eight weeks on the chart, peaking at number 7. The “children” were from the Italia Conti Academy of Theate Arts.
“Nellie the Elephant” is a children’s song written in 1956 by Ralph Butler and Peter Hart about a fictional anthropomorphic elephant of that name. The original version, released on Parlophone in October 1956, was recorded by English child actress Mandy Miller with an orchestra conducted by Phil Cardew. It was arranged by Ron Goodwin and produced by George Martin. Although never a hit single, it was played countless times on BBC national radio in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly on Children’s Favourites.
“I am a Mole and I Live in a Hole” is the most famous song recorded by The Southlanders, a Jamaican and British vocal group formed in 1950 by Edric Connor and Vernon Nesbeth. The title line from the song was spoken by the group’s bass voice Harry Wilmot, father of Gary Wilmot. Harry Wilmot died in 1961, when his son was six years old. The song failed to make the UK Singles Chart in 1958, but has been performed at every Southlanders’ event since its release. Group founder Vernon Nesbeth said that the group tried to take the song out of their set but that club managers and audiences insisted upon hearing it. “It’s become protected. Untouchable. We’ve even sung it in Japanese,” said Nesbeth.
“Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?)” is a novelty song by Lonnie Donegan. Released as a single in 1959, it entered the UK Singles Chart in February and peaked at number three. It was also Donegan’s greatest chart success in the United States, reaching number five on the Billboard chart in 1961. The song is a cover version of “Does the Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?” written by Billy Rose, Ernest Breuer, and Marty Bloom and first released in 1924 by The Happiness Boys. The song is humorous in content, the verses each describing a dramatic or urgent scenario leading up to the asking of the titular question. The title and lyrics of the Donegan version were changed in the UK because “Spearmint” is a registered trademark there, and the BBC would not play songs that mentioned trademarks. Donegan’s version of the song was recorded live at the New Theatre Oxford in December 1958.
