Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

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"Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" was a song made popular by Middle of the Road.

Written by Harold (known professionally as Lally) Stott it was a minor hit in Italy and Australia for the composer, as well as on the Billboard Hot 100, where it charted but failed to achieve significant success as the cover by Mac and Katie Kissoon became more popular. Stott's record company Philips were reluctant to release it overseas so he offered it to Scottish folk-pop group Middle Of The Road who were working in Italy at the time. The song became a large hit on the continent initially but became a hit in the UK as returning holidaymakers searched out a copy. It nearly flopped in the UK as Mac and Katie Kissoon released a version just before them, but aided by the patronage of DJ Tony Blackburn it became a massive hit. It reached #1 in the UK for five weeks in June 1971, the Kissoon version failed to chart in the UK but reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Dismissed by critics as bubblegum at the time, a view initially agreed upon by band leader Ken Andrews, 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. [1]

It was later referenced in the Denim song Middle of the Road in 1992, and more recently covered by novelty act Cartoons.

It is featured in the Neil Jordan film Breakfast on Pluto.

The song is used as the basis of football chants, such as at the game between Oxford United FC and Watford FC in April 1991 when Watford fans were heard to chant the words "Where's your Rachel gone?" to the tune, in reference to the murdered Oxford University student, Rachel McLean.

The song has been covered in many different foreign languages to include Vietnamese, Korean, Spanish and German. A notable dance mix cover in German was made by Mickie Krause under the title "Reiss die Hütte ab" (Apres Ski Hits 2003).

Lally Stott original video on YouTube.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jZG-UugBrw

Middle Of The Road video on YouTube.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BOcTVHmq_k

Preceded by
"Knock Three Times" by Dawn
UK number one single
June 15, 1971
Succeeded by
"Get It On" by T Rex
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