The 20th of February 1974
Official U.K. Singles Chart results from Sunday the 17th to Saturday the 23rd of February 1974
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 16th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 17th,
published on Tuesday the 19th,
and broadcast on B.B.C. Radio 1 on Sunday the 24th of February 1974.
The Wombles
The Wombling Song
At No.4, on the “The Top 50 U.K. Singles Chart”, the week of my 2nd Birthday, are The Wombles with The Wombling Song.
Pulled from what I would describe as…
…a concept album for young at heart, this debut single by the underground (overground) inhabitants of Wimbledon Common would be the beginning of quite a journey that, by the end of this year, will ultimately award them the honour of becoming the most successful music act of 1974.
It’s difficult to relay, over fifty years on, just how popular the Wombles were; not just in the children’s television landscape, but also the musical one too.
Borne from a children’s novel by Elizabeth Beresford,..
…these little fictional creatures sparked the young imaginations of the literary world, before progressing over to television and music popularity.
Each early evening, the catchy theme tune on the TV welcomes a new adventure from the secret burrow where the Wombles are “Making good use of the things that we find, things that the everyday folks leave behind” (I’ll forgive you, if you just sang that in your head).
Don’t tell anyone, but it’s apparently these guys who supply the ideas every week for each of the arts and crafts sections on Blue Peter (the cooking ones are obviously created by Madame Cholet); and they even get the chance of extended summer holidays, mostly turning up after each music festival up and down the country, with the clear-up at Glastonbury being compared to our Christmas Day.
To compose, perform and sing the songs,..
…they hired a musically multi-talented, but at the time down on his luck and destitute, 23 year-old married father, Mike Batt, who had recently gambled everything into a huge orchestral rock opus which had ultimately got shelved.
Being thousands of pounds in debt at the time, he was offered a £200 instant one-off payment for the whole project; but instead of accepting, he hedged his bets, after seeing the potential for future musical avenues (or burrows if you will) involving this family of furry creatures, and so asked for the character rights for music production; an inspired decision, which in the future will ultimately wipe out his debts and make him a multi-talented musical superstar in this own right.
When performing as the Wombles in front of an audience or on TV, it’s Mike front and centre, always as Orinoco, accompanied by equivalently disguised but nevertheless fellow prestigious session musicians, such as guitarist Chris Spedding dressed as Wellington, and drummer Clem Cattini dressed as Bungo.
Now with the show, and his theme tune, becoming such an overwhelming success, Mike has expanded the song and a few weeks ago released it as a single.
The single…
…entered the UK Chart last month on the 20th of January No.36, and subsequently leapt up ten places the following week, and by week three, had bounded into the Top 20 at No.19 at the beginning of this month of February.
Last week, it tunneled into the Top 10 to sit at No.7 before achieving its peak position this week, where it will now see out the rest of this month.
From here,..
…it will eventually slip back three places to No.7, and then lose another three, to sit on the edge of the Top 10.
Whereas most singles by this point will see a more dramatic tumble week by week, this single would buck that trend and make the most of its descent (quite possibly due to a re-issue being released from February which had an alternate “B” side); spending one week in the Top 20, before moving back into the Top 30 to spend the rest of March, April and the beginning of May. The rest of spring would be lived in the Top 40, before it welcomes in the first summer month of June, where it eventually Wombles out of the chart altogether after the 29th of that month; by now, having amassed an astonishing 23 consecutive weeks on chart, and leaving with a new bunch of fresh-faced fans, inspired by a new recycling concept, following in their furry footsteps.
The “A” Side
The “B” Side
This track is currently unavailable.
The Re-issue “B” Side
“The Wombles” TV opening theme.
The Wombles – The Wombling Song / Remember You’re A Womble (Eurovision Song Contest segment – 1974)
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