The Wombles are a British novelty pop group,
featuring musicians dressed as the characters from children's TV show The Wombles, which in turn
was based on the children's book series by Elisabeth Beresford. Songwriter and record
producer Mike Batt wrote the series' theme tune,
and went on to perform and write a number of successful albums and singles as
'The Wombles' with other collaborators. British Hit Singles ; Albums jokingly referred to them as the
"furriest (and possibly the tidiest) act... are natives of Wimbledon
Common, London". In 2011, the band played at The Glastonbury
Festival.
History
Filmfair acquired the television rights
to The Wombles and commissioned Batt to write the theme song.
He waived the flat fee for writing a single song, and secured the character
rights for musical production to write songs under the name 'The Wombles'
The band released several albums and singles. All
four studio albums went gold and four of the singles reached the Top
10 in the UK Singles Chart The Wombles were the most successful act
of 1974, with albums in the UK charts for more weeks than any other act.
A single called "Wombling U.S.A.",
written to break into the American market, was recorded in 1975 but was not
released until 2000 when it was included on the cassette version of "I
Wish It Could Be a Wombling Merry Christmas Everyday".
Live Performances
In January 1974, Mike Batt appeared on an edition
of Cilla Black's television series as Orinoco, having been led onstage by
guest Bernard Cribbins, to plug "The Wombling Song".
Consequently, when the single charted, the "band" was invited to
perform on Top of the Pops. Additional Womble suits were hastily
made for the live performance.
When appearing as a band, the Wombles were always
played by experienced musicians in full costume. Batt continued to perform as
Orinoco, regularly accompanied by drummer Clem Cattini as Bungo and
guitarist Chris Spedding as Wellington (complete with Spedding's
trademark white Gibson Flying V)--both of whom had previously recorded
with Batt. On one edition of Top of the Pops, the costumes were
filled by members of Steeleye Span.
Tim and Andy Renton, who had worked with Batt in
the latter incarnation of Hapshash and the Coloured Coat also donned
the costumes, along with Robin LeMesurier, who also had a Gibson Flying V,
but was kicked out of the band following an arrest for possession of marijuana
The band was the interval act at the Eurovision
Song Contest 1974.
They amassed eight Top 40 singles in the UK and reached
No. 55 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. They were awarded the Music Week Award for
Top Singles Band of 1974. Reissues of the Wombles' music in the late 1990s and
early 2000s also charted, extending their number of UK chart hits to thirteen.
Wombles' split and Wellington's solo career
The Wombles 'split' in 1976 and, following a severe
drought that summer, a single called "Rainmaker" (credited to
Wellington Womble) was released.
Glastonbury Festival
In April 2011, Batt announced that The Wombles
would play at The Glastonbury Festival in June. Michael Eavis, the
founder of the Glastonbury Festival, said that booking the Wombles was "a
bit of a mistake".[9] Batt quipped that Uncle Bulgaria had been
offended by Eavis' comments and had withdrawn an offer to tidy up the site
after the festival.[10] The band pulled a huge crowd on the
Glastonbury Avalon stage – bigger than the audience for the main Pyramid stage
on the same afternoon– so Eavis' Avalon stage booker was vindicated.
Personnel
The Wombles
·
Orinoco (Mike
Batt) – vocals, piano
·
Tobermory
(Simon Chandler-Honnor) – piano, keyboards
·
Great Uncle
Bulgaria (Paul Peabody) – violin
They amassed eight Top 40 singles in the UK and reached
No. 55 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. They were awarded the Music Week Award for
Top Singles Band of 1974. Reissues of the Wombles' music in the late 1990s and
early 2000s also charted, extending their number of UK chart hits to thirteen.
Source: various Wikipedia articles. Mike Batt, Womble's children's book and TV series, Wombles band
