Reupload - Jackie Lee - Inigo Pipkin/ End of Rainbow

Reggaefied version of top seventies childrens TV theme

Label: Pye
Year of Release: 1972

Ah, memories. If you grew up in Britain in the seventies, television was a wonderful thing in the early and late afternoon, crammed with shows whose appeal has yet to completely wane. From the sheer animated eccentricity of "The Magic Roundabout" through to the outer space freaky Socialist moon creature whimsy of "The Clangers", and on to the rather more socially aware "Paddington Bear", it's impossible not to talk about these shows without getting wistful and dreamy. Filled with knowing jokey nods to the adults in the room, the overall concept seemed to be about family viewing, rather than simply sitting children down in front of the television by themselves.

"Inigo Pipkin" - or "Pipkins" as it became known by the time I was aware of it - was actually my favourite programme as a toddler. If forced to articulate the reasons now I'm not sure I could tell you why. I wasn't really capable of intellectualising why the content of "Pipkins" was superior to "Rainbow" back then, and if you'd ask me I'd probably have said something about some of the puppets being funny.  Love it I did, though, and as an adult viewer now the show has obviously taken on added dimensions. I wouldn't have known what "camp" was as a four year old, much less been able to tell you that's what Hartley Hare was, and nor would I have appeciated the fact that the puppets were rather moth-eaten beasts, a fact numerous YouTube commenters have since leapt up to point out.

The theme tune was ace as well, being a thing of popsike wonder, all close vocal harmonies and soaring melodies dedicated to a "puppet maker man". The perfect introduction to the rather gentle, cosy nature of the programme, it made you feel as if you were entering a safe world where eccentric old men could make a living owning a shop which purely sold tatty puppet animals to local children. Ah, those were the days. But those days never really existed.

Jackie Lee's single version of "Inigo Pipkin" is significantly different from the television theme tune, sadly. Here she seems to have gone for a little bit of a reggae lilt, which is a bit silly given that the show couldn't have been less Jamaican or urban. It's impossible to destroy the track's charm's completely, though, and its original intentions shine through. 

The Pipkins - Pipkins Maxi Party

Label: Columbia
Year of Release: 1970

The Pipkins were an absurd and frankly faintly irritating novelty group created by songwriting supremo Roger Greenaway working in tandem with sometime Edison Lighthouse (and Brotherhood of Man and Flower Pot Men) singer Tony Burrows.  "Gimme Dat Ding" went top ten in both the USA and the UK as numerous people wigged out to the sounds of two respected music industry men putting on silly voices.  Like a high-budget version of your Dad and Uncle's drunken Christmas turn after the last dregs of Vermouth have been supped from the bottle, it remains something of an anomaly. The saloon room piano boogie may have slightly helped invent Lieutenant Pigeon, but beyond that the hit is something of a solitary twig on pop's family tree (and perhaps thank God for that).

Given the international success of "Ding", it's probably not that surprising that The Pipkins brand continued for several years as Burrows, Greenaway and various record labels tried to milk the concept for more hits.  There was even a long-playing record where you could apparently hear the pair's footsteps walking down into the distance as the run-out grooves pulled the needle towards the record's end.

Of all the examples I've heard, however, this single remains the most ludicrous.  The third outing for the project, "Maxi Party" tried to get the pair to do a big hits medley, but sounds utterly deranged - too deranged to sell, in fact - and actually genuinely funny.  Sounding less like Jive Bunny and more akin to Vic and Bob's bizarre approximation of Paul Simon and Neil Sedaka, Burrows and Greenaway growl and squeak through "Mama Told Me Not To Come", "Give Me Just A Little More Time", and "In The Summertime", backed by a cheap and nasty, out-of-tune sounding piano.  I admit that side one is probably all you need to hear to get the gist of the joke, but there is something strangely delightful about hearing grown men with falsetto voices squealing through Randy Newman and Chairman of the Board songs with all the respect of a demolition crew.

Perhaps to prove that the whole thing was just a big jape and there were no hard feelings intended, Greenaway even kicks two of his own compositions in the balls, namely "My Baby Loves Lovin'" and "Melting Pot", the latter of which descends into scatological humour and leaves the single nowhere to go but off the turntable.  Nice work, lads, and it's pleasing to know that your careers survived this strange diversion, but please don't reform under this guise and make any more records of this ilk.