"Teletubbies say "Eh-oh!"" | |
---|---|
Single by Teletubbies | |
from the album Teletubbies – The Album | |
Released | 1 December 1997[1] |
Genre | Pop |
Length | 3:34 |
Label | BBC Worldwide Music [2] |
Songwriter(s) | Andrew McCrorie-Shand, [3] Andrew Davenport [4] |
Producer(s) | Andrew McCrorie-Shand [3] and Steve James [5] |
"Teletubbies say 'Eh-oh!'" is a hit single recorded by the Teletubbies. It is mostly a remix of the theme song from the hit BBC children's television series Teletubbies. [6] The song contains two nursery rhymes: the Teletubbies hum along to " Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" and the flowers from Teletubbyland sing " Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary".
The single reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in December 1997. It remained in the top 100 for a total of 41 weeks and sold well enough to be certified double platinum. [7] It was also a hit in Ireland, peaking at number two. In 1998, a Dutch version titled "Teletubbies zeggen 'A-Oh!'" was released in the Netherlands, where it reached number 12. The Teletubbies have not had another such hit, making them a one-hit wonder.
There was considerable anticipation that it would be the Christmas number one in 1997 and it was the betting favorite at William Hill at odds of 6–4. [8] This race was said to have been decided by the under-10 age group as the rival Spice Girls were popular with seven-year-old girls while the Teletubbies were more popular with younger children. [9] Siobhan Ennis, the singles manager at Tower Records' flagship store in Piccadilly Circus said, "The race for the Christmas No 1 is really exciting. At this time of year, people aren't being so serious about their purchasing. We've taken a hell of a lot of the Teletubbies record. The singles market is driven by children, and not just at Christmas." [10]
The Teletubbies were beaten by the Spice Girls' " Too Much" and so were just the Christmas number two. [11] But a year later, the BBC was embarrassed when its answer to a pop quiz had the Teletubbies as the Christmas number one. [12]
BMG marketed the single in the UK while EMI managed it for the rest of Europe. [13] A&R executive Simon Cowell made this deal with the BBC saying, "I heard another record label were about to sign the Teletubbies, so I got the BBC in my office and told them I would give them £500,000 in advance. We knew a record like that would make over £2 million." [14] It then sold 317,000 copies in its first week to debut at number one; 1,103,000 copies by the end of the year and total UK sales were 1.3 million. [15] [16]
A rival single, "Tubby Anthem", was made by Yorkshire musician Vince Brown for the charity ChildLine. The BBC threatened legal action and so it was withdrawn. [17]
"Teletubbies say 'Eh-oh!'" was number one on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in December 1997. [18] It remained in the Top 75 for 29 weeks after its first release and 3 weeks more after two re-releases. [2] The single was shortlisted for the Novello songwriting award [19] but others consider it to be an annoying tune—sickly and irritating. [20] It has repeatedly placed high in polls of awful songs, such as that run by VH1 in which it placed third to " The Millennium Prayer" and " Mr Blobby". [21] As of February 2020, the song is the 127th biggest-selling-single in UK chart history. [22]
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
All-time charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom ( BPI) [7] | 2× Platinum | 1,300,000 [15] [16] |
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