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GOODIES MUSIC REVIEW #37 – SPRING SPRING SPRING
(from C&G #158 January 2009)
Hi there pop pickers and welcome to another Goodies Music Review.
WHO?
When we last left our desperate DJs Peaches Stiletto (aka Linda Kay) and Emperor Caligula (aka Brett Allender) several months ago now, they were feverishly doing the Last Chance Dance in a forlorn bid to avoid the embarrassing fate of going home alone (or the even more humiliating one of going home with each other!).
Peaches did manage to find a man who swept her off her feet as she was leaving the dance club, but unfortunately he was driving the city council streetcleaner at the time, while the Emperor's fortunes weren't much better. He was able to pull alright, but it was only on a towrope because he couldn't get his old bomb of a car to start. No doubt they're both hoping for better luck this time around as we cross out to the meadow (where we're hoping that our friendly farmer is also waiting with a ruddy great shotgun!) and our dimply pimply DJs with their review of "SPRING SPRING SPRING" by The Goodies.
WHERE? WHEN?
"Spring Spring Spring " can be heard on the 70s albums "The Goodies Beastly Record" and "The Goodies Greatest Hits". It originally appeared in "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again" and a longer version was a feature of the 25th Anniversary ISIRTA reunion special recorded in 1989.
WHAT?
Lyrics: sung by Tim, with help from Bill with the sound effects
How are you this fine new morning, Can you hear the flowers yawning? {yawn}
There's no more snow and ho ho ho, it's spring spring spring {boing}
All the birdies are tweet tweeting, Up above the sun is beating {drumming}
So sing with me, go hee hee hee, it's spring spring spring {boing}
Oh the little crows are crowing {caw}, You can hear them in the meadow every day
And the friendly farmer's going, To see them on their way {rifle shots}
Oh the bluebells all are ringing {bells}, And the bumblebees are stinging {shriek}
Everyone can tell, oh well well well, it's spring spring spring {boing}
There's a vulture on my shoulder, And he says that I look older
And the hyena goes ha ha ha, it's spring spring spring {boing}
Little girls are showing dimples, Little boys are growing pimples {pop}
And the cockatoo says {phhtt} to you, it's spring spring spring {boing}
In the meadow Joy is waiting, She is ready there for every little boy
You can hear them celebrating, As they feel the springs of Joy {"Ooh get off!"} {dirty chuckle}
Oh the little lambs are bleating, They'll soon be ripe for eating
So fill your tum, sing yum yum yum, it's spring spring spring
[Instrumental break & sound effects]
Yes it's spring {boing} thank you!, And there's a new love
It will come to you if only you can wait {"Oh, I can't wait"}
I can hear the one that you love, Down by the old farm gate
{Baa baa baa baa baa} What was that? {"A five baa gate!"}
Now that was a sheep joke if ever I heard one. {"You just heard one!"}
All around us June is busting, And the little boys are lusting
Oh can't you guess, oh yes yes yes, it's spring spring spring
It's spring {boing}, spring {boing}, spring {boing}
[Instrumental ending]
NOTE: The ISIRTA version is sung by Bill and features the following verses as an introduction prior to the above lyrics:
Early every morning, I, Throw my bedroom window high {fling … "way hey hey"}
And let the good clean air refresh my room {howling gale}
With wellie boots upon my feet, I tiptoe through my garden sweet {squelching footsteps}
And watch the sun come peeping through the gloom {"I can't see, I can't see, turn the lights on, I've lost all my sun voice."}
See the blind nocturnal mole, Shyly limp back in his hole {"Aaaaargh" … thud … "Wrong hole!"}
And listen to the goldfish sweetly sing {gurgle}
A centipede goes tripping by {lots of quick footsteps}, And look, there goes a butterfly {racing car-like zoom}
And hark the birds are warbling on the wing {"On the wing!"}
Little flowers shake the dewdrops from their hair {burble}
And new green shoots are pushing through the clay {grunts of effort}
I hear them take a good deep breath of morning air {cough splutter}
As I listen to the breaking of the day {glass smashing}
WHY?
(Peaches Stiletto):
When it comes to the seasons, summer better than others. There's the winter splinter, who think that snow is the way to go. And there's the autumn quantum, who think that fall is a ball. But nothing beats the bright punny days of Spring, as exemplified by the song stylings of Bill Oddie, who leaves no groan unturned in this witty ditty. Nothing by Vivaldi could so vividly capture the utter essence of the vernal equinox as well as this melody rife with sheep jokes and bubbly double entendres. As the snows of winter melt, we're treated to a flood of painfully playful pokes at perpetually perky tunes which exalt the annual rotation of the Earth around the Sun. But this song tells it like it is. The birds and bees (not to mention "the birds and the bees") are given their due, as well as the ever-present battle of the farmer and the crows, the battle of the sexes and the battle of the bulge (more mutton, anyone?) Wool you be able to stand it? While bleating hearts may find it hard to swallow, the truth can be ugly . . . and silly . . . and obviously adapted into a delightfully twisted tune. So keep your Summer holiday . . . let the leaves Fall where they may . . . and save your discontent for the Winter . . . give me Spring, Spring, Spring (boing!)
(Emperor Caligula):
Many years before Bill’s songwriting talents produced tracks of the calibre of Black Pudding Bertha and Funky Gibbon (though Graeme’s computer is still trying to claim writing credit and a cut of the profits for the latter one– the court case is scheduled to begin immediately after the BBC starts screening repeats of The Goodies!), he specialised in creating quirky cheeky songs for the classic radio comedy series I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again. Even a seemingly mundane topic like one of the four seasons is turned into a musical masterpiece once some silly sound effects are led in one by one like lambs to the slaughter and even more silly puns and sheep jokes manage to fleece a few sick chuckles before being quickly put out to pasture by the next in-vernal slice of wackiness. It’s a crow’s call, but without raven on about it I’ve always thaw-t of Spring Spring Spring as one of ISIRTA’s finest musical moments, baa none. Skipping right along, I’m happy to leap to its defence and field any criticism of it, just as long as I get my turn in the meadow feeling those springs of joy (though it’d be just my luck for her to say “Not tonight dear, I’ve got a paddock!” How come I never seem to get the coil?!). Anyway while the Goodies version may not have quite the same bouncy manic quality of the ISIRTA one (especially without a John Otto Cleese stealing the show with his five-baa gate and detached indifference) it’s still a wonderful slice of musical comedy which would be guaranteed to get the Minister for Health (no less) merrily sneezing along with its tribute to prime hayfever-inducing time, despite only a passing mention of the word “hay” (Yatchoo!) in the ISIRTA version.
HOW!
Using the Black Pudding Rating System:
IIII Officially Amazing (Peaches Stiletto)
IIII Officially Amazing (Emperor Caligula)
THE BLACK PUDDING RATINGS SYSTEM
IIIII - Superstar.
IIII - Officially Amazing.
III - Goody Goody Yum Yum.
II - Fair-y Punkmother.
I - Tripe on t' pikelets.
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