Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

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"Chirpy chirpy, cheep cheep"
Single by Lally Stott
from the album Chirpy Chirpy, Cheep Cheep[1]
B-side	"Henry James"
Released	1970
Recorded	1970
Label	Philips
Songwriter(s)	Lally Stott

"Chirpy Chirpy, Cheep Cheep" is a song recorded in 1970 by its composer Lally Stott,^[2] and made popular in 1971 by Scottish band Middle of the Road for whom it was a UK #1 chart hit.^[3] That version is one of fewer than fifty singles ever to have sold in excess of 10 million physical copies worldwide.^[4]

History[]

The original recording of the song by its composer, Lally Stott, was a Top 15 hit in France and a minor hit in Italy, Australia and in the United States. Stott's record company, Philips, was reluctant to release the song overseas, and apparently offered it to two other groups: Scottish folk-pop group Middle of the Road, who were working in Italy at the time, and the Trinidadian brother-and-sister duo Mac and Katie Kissoon. While it is unclear which group Stott offered his song to first, Mac and Katie Kissoon produced their cover version first. Middle of the Road's version then initially became a hit in continental Europe only, but later grew in popularity in the United Kingdom. In the UK, it reportedly got a boost from DJ Tony Blackburn, who favored this version over the one previously produced by Mac and Katie Kissoon. However, Middle of the Road's take never charted on the US Billboard Hot 100, and it nearly flopped in the UK because it so quickly followed the Kissoons. Middle of the Road's recording eventually reached #1 in the UK and stayed there for five weeks in June 1971 (the Kissoons' version only reached #41).^[5] In the United States, the Kissoons' recording became a greater success, reaching #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Lally Stott's original had previously reached only #92).

At the time, the song was dismissed by critics^[who?] as bubblegum, a view initially held by band leader Ken Andrew: "We were as disgusted with the thought of recording it as most people were at the thought of buying it. But at the end of the day, we liked it."^{[citation needed]}

In 2006 "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" topped a list of unintentionally creepy songs in the Observer.^[6] Despite its popular appeal and popular chorus, the song has a theme of child abandonment.

Appearances[]

The song was featured on the Top of the Pops, Volume 18 album.

In popular culture[]

It was later referenced in both the Denim song "Middle of the Road" in 1992 and a 1998 episode of the popular Irish sitcom Father Ted which was called Chirpy Burpy Cheap Sheep.

Cover versions[]

• 1971 - The song appears as a cover on a television show with Paula Koivuniemi^[7]
• 1971 - Irish singer Jackie Lee covered the song on her second album Jackie's Junior Choice.
• 1971 - Dolores Vargas "La Terremoto" covered the song in a Spanish language version as "Chipi chipi chipi"^[8]
• 1973 - As a cover on a live record by the Little Angels Children's Folk Ballet of Korea
• 1990 - The song was covered by British band Lush and released on the compilation album Alvin Lives (In Leeds)
• 1995 - The song was covered by 4 Ties and released on the compilation album of the same title.^{[9][10][11][12]}
• 1995 - Norwegian comedy duo Herodes Falsk and Tom Mathisen included a parody version of the song on their album Børre & Gibbs Happy 52 minutter, reinterpreting it as a silly nonsense song with surreal lyrics.^[13]
• 1996 - German pop band Sqeezer interpolated parts of the song in their track "Oweo" on their debut album Drop Your Pants^[14]
• 2000 - Danish novelty act Cartoons released a cover to appear on their second and final studio album Toontastic!
• 2003 - German singer Mickie Krause performed a dance song, "Reiss die Hütte ab", to the same tune, to appear on the compilation Apres Ski Hits 2003
• 2004 - A song to the same tune titled "Get the Party On" was included on The Cheeky Girls album PartyTime
• 2006 - German girl group Yamboo covered the song in a Spanglish version to appear on their debut and only album Okama De Mapouka^[15]
• 2006 - German duo Soul Control released a hip-hop version.
• 2017 - The song was covered by Kylie Minogue on the soundtrack for the movie Swinging Safari
• 2018 - An instrumental version of the song was covered by Brasilian band and released on the album Te quiero, te quiero

Language versions[]

The song has been covered in many languages, including Catalan, Vietnamese, Khmer, Korean, Spanish and German. A Spanish language version was done by Middle of the Road^[16] followed by another version by Dolores Vargas.^[17] German versions were by ^[18] and Mickie Krause who performed a dance song to the same tune, "Reiss die Hütte ab" (Tear The Hut Down) (Apres Ski Hits 2003). sang a Finnish language version with lyrics from Vexi Salmi.

Charts[]

Lally Stott version

Middle of the Road version

Mac and Katie Kissoon version

References[]