As we move into the 1960’s, begin by celebrating that recently deceased British actor Bernard Cribbins who released a number of comic/novelty songs in 1961/2, three of which featured in the UK charts.
“Folk Song” was a song written by by Myles Rudge and composed by Ted Dicks. They wrote songs and sketches for West End revue shows, including And Another Thing, which had a long run at the Fortune Theatre in 1960, featuring Bernard Cribbins, Anna Quayle, Lionel Blair and Joyce Blair. “Folk Song”, one of the show’s songs, became a hit for Cribbins, produced by George Martin, and led to them collaborating on several further top 10 hits in the UK.
“The Hole in the Ground” is a comic song written . When recorded by Bernard Cribbins and released on the Parlophone label in 1962, it was a number nine hit in the UK. It remains the highest charting and most successful of Cribbins’ hit singles, staying on the chart for 13 weeks. The musical accompaniment was directed by Gordon Franks, and the producer was George Martin. The song is about a dispute between a workman digging a hole and an officious busybody wearing a bowler hatt for the gentleman in the bowler hat who insists: Don’t dig there, dig it elsewhere. You’re digging it round and it ought to be square. The shape of it’s wrong, it’s much too long,And you can’t put a hole where a hole don’t belong.
“Right Said Fred” is a novelty song of 1962 written by Ted Dicks and Myles Rudge. It is about three moving men (the narrator, “Fred,” and “Charlie”) trying—without success—to move a large and unwieldy piece of furniture from an apartment. The item has feet, a seat, handles and candleholders and is never identified but is often interpreted as being a piano. In the animated film version it is depicted as such; however, in the 1970 television performance of the song on the sketch show Cribbins it is depicted as a kind of small pipe organ. The movers eventually give up after dismantling the piece of furniture and partially demolishing the building – including removing a door, a wall, and the ceiling – and taking numerous tea breaks. The lyrics do not specify whether Fred recovers from “half a ton of rubble on the top of his dome” (slang for head) prior to the others having a final tea break and going home. “Right Said Fred” was recorded as a single by Bernard Cribbins and released by Parlophone in 1962. It reached number 10 in the UK. Cribbins recorded it at Abbey Road with musical accompaniment, directed by Johnnie Spence.
“Gossip Calypso” is a novelty calypso song written by Trevor Peacock. It was recorded by Bernard Cribbins and released by EMI on the Parlophone label in 1962. The musical accompaniment was directed by Johnnie Spence, and the producer was George Martin. It reached number 23 in the UK, and was Cribbins’ third top 30 hit of the year. The lyrics repeat the conversations between several female neighbours describing the latest news of themselves, their families and other neighbours, joined by the chorus: Gossip calypso, Gossip calypso, Hear all about it, Yak, a-yak, yak.
Every woman, Up at the window, Giving out the gossip and Getting it back. The slang used and names and situations mentioned imply the neighbours are in Britain rather than the Caribbean. The song is part of the early 1960s British calypso craze.
