The Pipkins

The Pipkins owe their lasting recognition almost solely to the 1970 novelty smash “Gimme Dat Ding,” another entry in the string of one-hit wonders that spotlighted bubblegum pop king Tony Burrows. Throughout much of that year the British session singer ruled the pop charts on both sides of the Atlantic while remaining anonymous; his lead vocals also appeared on Edison Lighthouse’s “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” and White Plains’ “My Baby Loves Lovin’,” and in February he became the first and only artist ever to front three separate acts on a single episode of the BBC’s Top of the Pops. Burrows teamed with pop songwriter Roger Greenaway, whose extensive credits already encompassed such blockbusters as Gene Pitney’s “Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart” and the Hollies’ “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress.” Driven by tongue-in-cheek vocal characterizations and rollicking boogie-woogie piano, the nonsensical “Gimme Dat Ding” climbed to number six on the pop charts, prompting EMI’s budget imprint Music for Pleasure to release the group’s only LP at mid-year—a split album with then-fledgling glam rock outfit the Sweet, also titled Gimme Dat Ding. Follow-up singles, including a cover of the Coasters’ classic “Yakety Yak” and “Are You Cooking, Goose?,” both failed to chart, after which Burrows and Greenaway each returned to their next studio assignments. Nevertheless, “Gimme Dat Ding” achieved enduring fame as the theme for the British children’s television series Oliver in the Overworld and remained a recurring feature of the long-running sketch comedy series The Benny Hill Show.