Today our comedic journey arrives at the 1980’s. We begin with a selection of songs from invidual artists whose recordings found there way into popular culture.
“Bucket Of Water Song” is the best-known number (and also their highest-charting single) by the The Four Bucketeers. They were an ad-hoc music/water-throwing group from the ITV children’s programme Tiswas. Officially, the Four were Chris Tarrant, Sally James, John Gorman and Bob Carolgees; sometimes Lenny Henry contributed as well. Gorman was the musical talent in the group, having been part of The Scaffold and the Grimms. The musicians backing them up included Ollie Halsall (guitar), John Halsey (drums), and Clive Griffiths (bass). “Bucket Of Water Song”, reached No. 26 in the UK Singles Chart in 1980.
“‘Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?” is a song written by British comedian Alexei Sayle, originally released as a single in the UK in 1982. The song is predominantly a rap comprising a mix of banal, absurd and generally unconnected setences (including the song’s title), each sentence being delivered twice in succession. Occasionally, a succeeding line provides the punch line to the preceding one. These rap passages are occasionally interrupted by short comic monologues or the consecutive repetition of the song’s title for an extended period. The single eventually achieved UK Top Twenty success in 1984, following a reissue. It reached number 15 in the UK in March 1984.
“The Chicken Song” is a novelty song by the British satirical comedy television programme Spitting Image (series 3, episode 6). The nonsensical lyrics were written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor; the music was written by Philip Pope, who also produced the song, with Michael Fenton Stevens as vocalist. The song was a parody of summer holiday disco songs such as “Agadoo” and “Do the Conga”, which were in vogue during the mid-1980s. The song made specific reference to the group Black Lace, who performed those songs (“those two wet gits, with their girly curly hair”). The song featured heavily during the 1986 series of Spitting Image, playing recurrently in the background, and being hummed by characters; at one stage, the puppet of Pope John Paul II played it on a banjolele. A subsequent release as a single reached number one in the official UK Singles Chart for three weeks in 1986.
“Living Doll” is a song written by Lionel Bart made popular by Cliff Richard and the Shadows (then still ‘the Drifters’) in 1959. It was the top selling single in the UK in 1959. It has topped the UK charts twice: in its original version in 1959 (their first number 1 single) and a new version recorded in 1986 in aid of Comic Relief. It is one of the few songs released by an English singer to chart on the American Billboard charts before the British Invasion occurred. In 1986, 27 years after the first release, alternative comedy group The Young Ones approached Richard to record a comic version of “Living Doll” for the Comic Relief charity. Despite the apparent contrast between the anarchic comedians and the clean cut Richard, he agreed and their version again topped the UK Singles Chart, for three weeks from March 1986.
“John Kettley Is a Weatherman” is a 1988 novelty record by the band A Tribe of Toffs, from Sunderland. The song peaked at 21 in the UK Singles Chart. John Kettley, referred to in the title is a British weatherman, who at the time presented national forecasts on BBC Television. The track was played on BBC Children’s TV after being discovered by researcher Jane Louise who, on picking the single at random from the post bag commented that the ‘kids would love this one’. On 19 July 2022 (the hottest day recorded in the UK) Radio X DJ Chris Moyles played the song after a clip of John Kettley discussing the weather featured in the 7am news, and Chris subsequently ‘campaigned’ for his listeners to buy it and it reached number 1 in the UK iTunes chart.
