What do you get when you lump together a precocious, screeching
brat on vocals, a nasty kiddie-choir to back her up, a terrible cutesy synth
and a ridiculous chicken impersonator? No? It’s Chick Chick Chicken by Natalie
Casey.
Released in in the hope of grabbing a hit at Christmas
1983, this is just about as horrible a slice of kiddie pop as you can imagine. Although
Natalie later went on to fame in TV soap Hollyoaks and dire ‘comedy’ series Two
Pints of Lager, she was just three years old when she recorded her single,
which reached the dizzying heights of number 72 in the UK Singles Chart in early
1984 and made her the youngest person ever to have a recording in the UK chart.
Now a respected star of stage musicals (she’s recently
been in Legally Blonde and is about to star in the musical version of 9 to 5),
some of you with memories long enough may recall her appearance on the BBC’s
kids show Saturday Superstore when she had to ask Boy George to take her to the
toilet (he didn’t, Culture Club member Roy Hay took her instead), but the
assumption is that the poor deluded moppet thought that George was a woman. Having
made tinkle Natalie then returned to whisper into George’s ear: “what’s for
dinner?”- apparently no longer mistaking him for a toilet attendant but for a
dinner lady instead.
Natalie later resurrected her one stab at chart stardom,
performing the song in 2008 during a live Two Pints of Lager special. She would
have been around 28 at the time; has she no shame?
Produced by Peter Gosling (chickens, geese…what’s next)
who during a long career in music for children was involved in Bodger and
Badger, Play School, Chockablock, Number 73, Noah and Nellie in the Skylark and
many, many more, as an extra I’ve include the even more awful B-side (‘written’
by Peter Gosling), which is confusingly listed on the cover as Natalie’s Disco
Party but, correctly judging by the lyrics, on the label as Natalie’s Disco
Nursery.
Enjoy.
Download Chick Chick Chicken HERE
Download Natalie's Disco Nursery HERE
That second track was agonizing.
ReplyDeleteYeesh.
Darryl, poor lad, this is but one example, OUT OF TRILLIONS, of a quite disgusting emulation/imitating attepmt to sound as cutesie-pieish as America's long lost sweetheart, child starlet; Shirley Temple. Yes it sux. Yes, it's horrendous. But, hey, man, if you're gonna go after all the kiddy-type audio that's ever been released, you would kill your own body from the shear magnitude of it all. Don't confuse "Worst" with "PURPOSELY RECORDED SHIT". That is what all the "SESAME ST." things are. And, there's a TON of them, begun back in the 40's. I think Shirley Temple was a great thing at first. But, soon she was made into a complete joke, but all the laughs were aimed at the wrong meanings, by then. She was OK, but her image was as poisoned as George Michaels' filthy fingers could ever be. So, please, Darryl, don't fall into this trap of Kiddy-show-type audio. You could really get hurt in there. Keep to the real enemies: rap, (Although I won't be listeneing to it) & Babs & Helen Ready & Samphir & Bill Clinton & Michael Huckeby & John Tesh & Julio & the other minions of truely WORST records.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I am keeping a copy of this first song, for my "Chicken Songs" collection.
ReplyDeleteReally sad that this hasn't been converted to the newer player
ReplyDeleteCome back after the weekend; I'll see if I can't sort something out!
Delete