Sixties whistlemania continues - or doesn't
Label: CBS
Year of Release: 1969
"Whistling" Jack Smith - an anonymous session whistler whose moniker, to my mind, always made him sound like some dodgy bloke who sold knock-off car parts in the local pub - was a brief sensation in 1967 when his single "I Was Kaiser's Bill's Batman" stormed the charts. He's continued to be a viral Internet sensation since where videos of him (or at least "his" stand-in Billy Moeller) prancing and flouncing around have proven to be the UK's equivalent of Russia's Trololo.
Such commercial success created by mere whistling tunes obviously led some other studio musicians to try their hand at the format, but none broke through in the same manner. Artists such as Roger Whittiker had obviously worked whistling into their acts already, but seldom (if ever) did anyone whistle their way through entire tunes without putting their vocal chords into action before Smith surprised us all.
This single is another such attempt at scoring a hit solely through a merry whistlin' tune, and... well, it's hard to say much about it apart from it's everything you'd expect. Horns parp, backing vocals "aah" contentedly, and there's lots of lips pursing and blowing. It's one to skip merrily through Sping's fields to, but in all honestly, it's not a great lost novelty track - just something that CBS obviously wanted to take a punt on being a possible hit and emerged short-changed from.
If the previews below aren't working properly, please go right to the source.
2 comments:
A reggae-ish back beat was obviously becoming the 'in-thing'. Released 21st November!! not much whistlin' in the sunshine done at that time of year, at least not down here in Croydon.....
We had a copy knocking around the house in the eighties, me nd my little sister used to dance around to it like fools. We knew it was a silly but we kinda liked it too.
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