THE MAPLE LACE*
Gimme Dat Ding
(Albert Hammond - Mike Hazlewood)
Australia 1970
#6 Sydney

*The label shows The Maple Lace but the regular name of the band was just Maple Lace.

Co-charted in Sydney with the original version by The Pipkins.

June 1970 single on Caesar's International, a label that was run briefly by Caesar's discotheque in Sydney.

Maple Lace was not the same band as Caesar's residents The R.J. Taylor Band (as some have speculated), but a busy live band in its own right at major Sydney venues, including regular gigs backing Johnny Farnham.

Co-produced by John Francis: see John J. Francis - Play Mumma, Sing Me A Song

Reference: Caesar's International label history and discography at Milesago.

Essential reading: The Facebook page Maple Lace - band 1969-1970, maintained by the band's drummer John Newth, has many items of interest including photos, history, charts and audio.

Thanks to John Newth for clarification.
FRANKIE DAVIDSON
Gimme Dat Ding
(Albert Hammond - Mike Hazlewood)
Australia 1970
#18 Melbourne #7 Brisbane #3 Adelaide #12 Perth

Single on Fable May 1970. YouTube

Comic singer-songwriter, entertainer and actor best known for his 1962 hit Have You Ever Been To See King's Cross? YouTube

See also Hector The Trash Collector under the song it parodies, Sadie The Cleaning Lady.

Further reading: Frankie Davidson's website is no longer at frankiedavidson.com but it is preserved at the Internet Archive.
 
THE PIPKINS
Gimme Dat Ding
(Albert Hammond - Mike Hazlewood)
UK 1970
Influential version
#6 UK #9 USA #6 Sydney #1 NZ

Co-charted in Sydney with Australian version by The Maple Lace.

Single on Columbia, March 1970, on Capitol in USA, Columbia in NZ.

The Pipkins were British duo Tony Burrows and Roger Greenaway, originally known as One & One from 1964. Until then, they had both been in The Kestrels, a band formed in 1956 and known previously as The Hi Fi's and Belltones before becoming The Kestrels in 1958. Roger Cook, Greenaway's long-time collaborator, was also a Kestrel for a time.

Burrows and Greenaway both appeared on an album of songs from Oliver In The Overworld, a TV musical segment on children's show Little Big Time, and the source of Gimme Dat Ding: see below under Freddie & The Dreamers.

Tony Burrows was one of the most recorded session singers in Britain during the late 60s and early 70s, and in 1970 he had four hits under four different band names. His credits as lead singer include Let's Go To San Francisco by The Flowerpot Men (1967), Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) by Edison Lighthouse (1970), My Baby Loves Lovin' by White Plains (1970), United We Stand by Brotherhood of Man (1970) and Beach Baby by First Class (1974). He recorded the original version of Melanie Makes Me Smile, covered in Australia by The Strangers.

Burrows also sang on early albums by Elton John and did session work with Cliff Richard in the 70s.

Further reading on Tony Burrows: 1. Alwyn J. Turner's [archived] Tony Burrows page from Glitter Suits & Platform Boots. 2. Interview with Tony Burrows at Pop Entertainment.com. 3. Hiroshi Asada's Voice of Tony Burrows pages.

Roger Greenaway is well known for his collaborations with Roger Cook, with whom he wrote numerous hit songs, beginning with The Fortunes' You've Got Your Troubles (1965). British band Blue Mink, with Roger Cook sharing lead vocals, played a repertoire of Greenaway-Cook compositions, including Melting Pot (1969, #3 UK), Banner Man (1971, #3), and Can You Feel It Baby (1970), recorded in Australia by Sherbet.

The Australian hit Everything Is Out Of Season by Johnny Farnham is a Greenaway-Cook composition.

Further reading on Greenaway & Cook: 1. See Hiroshi Asada's Cook & Greenaway Song List for the extent of their output. 2. Roger Cook's official site is no longer at rogercook.com but the archived version at Internet Archive still has some functionality and is worth a browse.

Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, writers of Gimme Dat Ding, also wrote Leapy Lee's Little Arrows (1968), The Hollies' The Air That I Breathe (1974), and the unclassifiable I'm A Train by Colours of Love (1968), also a charting release by Albert Hammond in 1974 (Look at me I'm a train on a track, I'm a train, I'm a train, I'm a chucka-train, yeah... Been a hard day, Yes it has been a hard day...). Hammond's own highest-charting single It Never Rains In Southern California (1972) was written with Hazlewood.

Irish singer Joe Dolan had three UK Top 5 hits in a row with  Hammond-Hazlewood compositions 1969-70: Make Me an Island (#2), Teresa (#1), and You're Such a Good Looking Woman (#4).

That's A Hoe Down, an obscure Albert Hammond composition not always listed in his discographies, was a minor hit in Australia by Lynne Randell (1967).

Albert Hammond Jr is in the prominent 21st-century rock band The Strokes.

Further reading on Albert Hammond & Mike Hazlewood: 1. AlbertHammond.com. 2. Albert Hammond at All Music. 3. Mike Hazlewood at Wikipedia.

Thanks to Fred Clemens for clarification.
FREDDIE & THE DREAMERS
Gimme Dat Ding
(Albert Hammond - Mike Hazlewood)
UK 1970
Original version

Gimme Dat Ding was first heard on a British TV series for children, Little Big Time (1968-1973).

Its first release on record was on Oliver In The Overworld (early 1970) an album of songs from a TV musical aired as part of Little Big Time. It starred Freddie Garrity, with the participation of the Dreamers. The band's bassist Peter Birrell also had a role as Oliver the Clock. Nostalgia Central remembers it as a slightly eerie panto-like segment. It later expanded to fill each episode.

The songs were written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, with scripts by Hazlewood.

Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway and Tony Burrows (billed as Burroughs) sing on the album but were not (as far as I can tell) in the TV series.

SecondHandSongs.com notes this as First release - Obscure original, and the Pipkins version as Cover more famous than the original.

Clarification: Gimme Dat Ding does not appear on a second Oliver In The Overworld album (1971) which carries only Freddie's name on the cover (Starring Freddie Garrity). It is billed on the label as the original cast recording of the Southern Television show. The track listing is different from the first album, apart from one or two songs, but they are again all Hammond-Hazlewood compositions.

Too much Gimme Dat Ding was barely enough, obviously:
• SecondHandSongs lists numerous other versions of Gimme Dat Ding, including 1970 releases by The Alan Caddy Orchestra and Singers, The Ding Dongs, Ray McVay, Jerry Smith, Will Glahé (as Gimmi Dat Ding), and Mike Hill.
• 45cat.com adds versions from 1970 by Miluška Voborníková And Jiří Grossmann, The Scarlets, and Keith Newton.

Corrections or comments? Contact the writer.