The Wombles

The Wombles were a 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 Elizabeth Beresford. Songwriter and producer Mike Batt wrote the series' theme tune, and went on to perform and produce a number of highly successful albums and singles as The Wombles.

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.^[1]

To help him get into character, Batt's mother made him a Womble suit, which he wore for a week prior to writing the first songs.^[2]

The band released several LPs and singles. All four studio albums went gold and four of the singles reached the Top 10. The Wombles were the most successful act of 1974, with albums in the UK charts for more weeks than any other act.^[3]

A single called Wombling U.S.A., written to break into the American market, was recorded in 1974 but was not released.^[4]

Several of the songs were included in the soundtrack of the 1977 film Wombling Free.

Live performances

When the first singles unexpectedly charted, the "band" was invited to perform on Top of the Pops. Additional Womble suits were made for live performances.

When the band performed on stage or television, the characters were always played by experienced musicians in full Womble costumes. This often including session players such as guitarist Chris Spedding (complete with his trademark white Gibson Flying V) as Wellington and drummer Clem Cattini as Bungo, both of whom had played on Batt's recordings. Batt usually played the part of Orinoco. On one edition of Top of the Pops, the costumes were filled by members of Steeleye Span. The costumes were sweltering in the heat of television studios.

The band was the interval act at the Eurovision Song Contest 1974.

Breakup

The Wombles were featured in BBC-sponsored theatrical shows all over the UK during the 1975 Christmas season. However due to a dispute over the rights to the stage shows, none of them had anything to do with Batt. It was a public relations disaster with media reporting that hundreds of children was disappointed with the "imitation Wombles".^[2]

To "split" the group, Batt decided to have Wellington Womble leave to pursue a solo career.^[4] In 1976 Wellington released a solo single called Rainmaker.

Legacy

Batt remains sensitive about the legacy of the band. In a 2008 interview he said "It is hard to be taken seriously with the Wombles hanging around my neck like a furry anvil."^[1]

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Music videos

Soundtracks

Parodies

The BBC Four comedy program Don't Watch That, Watch This showed a dubbed footage of The Wombles from TOTP2, of the Wombles purportedly performing Anarchy in the U.K. live in June 1988. The scrolling caption during the song read "During the early eighties the Wombles reformed as a funk soul fusion. But the project soon failed and the group disbanded, only to come together again as the Dixie Minstrel Wombles. In 1988 the original line up were reunited for the third time to record their version of this Sex Pistols classic.... for a Pot Noodle commercial. Later released as a single it reached 57 on the charts."

The film The Rutles featured a Ringo-inspired character named Barrington Womble who "shortened his name to save time...he simply became Barry Wom."

References

External links

• Chris Spedding - Wombles index