Song Profile
"Gimme Dat Ding" is a call-and-response duet between a deep, gravelly voice (Tony Burrows) and a high tenor (Roger Greenaway). (The voices are said to represent a piano and a metronome. The gravelly voice is also thought to be an imitation of a "dirty old man" character (who went by the descriptive name of "Tyrone F. Horneigh") played on a recurring basis by comedian Arte Johnson on the old NBC-TV show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In) or talked like Popeye the Sailor Man or Wolfman Jack.
Written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, "Gimme Dat Ding" was one track from their musical sequence "Oliver in the Overworld" which formed part of the British children's show Little Big Time hosted by Freddie and the Dreamers; this narrated a surreal story of a little boy seeking the parts to mend his Grandfather Clock. The lyrics of the song relate to this story, the song being sung by a metronome who has been expelled by the Clockwork King; the "ding" has been stolen from the metronome by the "Undercog". The original version of the song as performed by Freddie was released on the album Oliver in the Overworld in 1970.
"Gimme Dat Ding" was used (as Gimme Dat Ring) by Coca Cola to advertise their new Ring Pull Cans in the early 1970s. The song reached #7 in Canada.
In Australia versions by Frankie Davidson and Maple Lace were released to compete with the version by the Pipkins.
The tune was one of several used as musical accompaniment to time-lapse slapstick scenes on The Benny Hill Show, along with "Yakety Sax," "Mah Na Mah Na," and others.
In March 2007, a cover version of "Gimme Dat Ding" received much publicity in Australia when the National Australia Bank used the track as background to its television advertisement for the Australian Rules Football Auskick program for junior footballers. The television advertisement is known as "Kick to Kick" and is available for viewing online It has also featured in the 1990s TV comedy/drama Ally McBeal.
A live version of "Gimme Dat Ding", performed at the Fremont Town Hall, appears on the album Shaggs' Own Thing by The Shaggs (Dorothy, Helen, and Betty Wiggin).
In 2011 the track was used on a commercial for Pukka Pies in the UK.
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