THE MIXTURES
The Pushbike Song
(Idris & Evan Jones)
Australia 1970
#1 Sydney #1 Melbourne #1 Brisbane #1 Adelaide #2 Perth #1 NZ #2 UK #44 USA

Original version

Melbourne band formed 1965 that went through numerous changes of style and personnel until its demise in 1973.

Song written by vocalist Idris Jones with his brother Evan, who was not a band member. (They were both in Adelaide's Gingerbread Men: see Let The Little Girl Dance.)

After their Australian success with a cover version of UK band Mungo Jerry's In The Summertime earlier in the same year, The Mixtures released this original song written in a similar vein, which again topped the Australian charts and was a hit in the UK as well.

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The Pushbike Song has often been mistaken for a Mungo Jerry record because of its stylistic similarity with In The Summertime. Mungo Jerry did finally release a version of the song, but not until 1990 (see below).
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Thanks to Terry Stacey for suggestion and background.
Further reading: Wikipedia entry on The Pushbike Song.

Later versions:

THE BEGGARS
The Pushbike Song
(Idris & Evan Jones)
Germany? 1970
Later version

Single by mystery band (at least to me) on Cornet International label, #5030.
GREAT AMERICAN DISASTER
The Pushbike Song
(Idris & Evan Jones)
USA 1971
Later version

Single on United Artists label.

Band has the same name as a British chain of American-style hamburger shops in the 70s.
PINKY AND PERKY
The Pushbike Song
(Idris & Evan Jones)
UK
Later version

Single on MFP (EMI). Pinky and Perky were puppet pigs, stars of a BBC children's series.

Further reading: Pinky & Perky discography at The World of Pinky & Perky.
THE WURZELS
The Tractor Song
(Idris & Evan Jones + The Wurzels)
UK 1978
Later version

Parody

Parody of The Pushbike Song from 1978 album I'll Never Get A Scrumpy Here.

North Somerest comedy band specialising in country bumpkin parodies of well-known songs, best known for their 1976 hit Combine Harvester (#1 UK, #30 NZ), a parody of Melanie's Brand New Key.

See Wurzelmania, a comprehensive site on The Wurzels, their founder Adge Cutler, and the musical genre of Scrumpy and Western. Oh arrrr...! (You probably had to be there.)
MUNGO JERRY
The Pushbike Song
(Idris & Evan Jones)
1990
Later version

Just to confuse those who thought this was a 'Mungo Jerry song', this is a tribute version by Mungo Jerry that appeared long after The Mixtures' original version. It was on Mungo Jerry's 1990 album All The Hits Plus More.

As the MungoMania website tells it:
Mungo Jerry said they were 'flattered' by Pushbike and Ray (Dorset) recorded it years later by way of, um...tribute, his version appearing on All The Hits Plus More in 1990.
Thanks to Alex Petchenev.
ANITA HARRIS
The Pushbike Song
(Idris & Evan Jones)
Later version

Track on Those Pesky Kids: Cult Children's Classics (2001?) by British singer and entertainer.

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