Mouldy Old Dough

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"Mouldy Old Dough" is a popular song, recorded by Lieutenant Pigeon.

It was written by Nigel Fletcher and Rob Woodward and produced by Woodward and Fletcher, under the name of their other band, Stavely Makepeace.^[1]

Recorded in the front room of Woodward's Coventry semi-detached it featured his mother Hilda Woodward on piano,^[2] in a style reminiscent of 1950s star, Winifred Atwell.^{[citation needed]} The only lyrics are the growled title 'Mouldy Old Dough' by Fletcher. The words were a comment on the decimal currency recently introduced to the United Kingdom. It is the only British number one single to feature mother and son.^[2]

Originally released in early 1972 it flopped on its first release. It was picked up in Belgium and used on a current affairs programme, and became a hit there reaching number one on their singles chart. Decca encouraged by this success, re-released it and with the backing of then BBC Radio 1 DJ Noel Edmonds finally became a hit in the UK, spending four weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart in October 1972.^[3] It sold 790,000 copies.

"Mouldy Old Dough" (the title being an adaptation of the 1920s jazz phrase, "vo-de-o-do")^[1] became the second biggest selling UK single of the year, behind The Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards' bagpipe version of "Amazing Grace".

Thus the two best-selling singles in the UK that year were both novelty instrumentals.

[edit] Uses of "Mouldy Old Dough"

It was one of the choices of Jarvis Cocker when he appeared on the long-running BBC Radio 4 programme, Desert Island Discs.
The song has since become almost a 'theme song' for the sport of British Banger racing, where it is played at the start of many races at tracks across Great Britain, as the racers begin their 'rolling lap'.
It also became popular in New Zealand in the 1990s after by its use in a television advertisement for Instant Kiwi scratchcards.
The track is played over the tannoy at the end of Oldham Athletic A.F.C. home games.

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits, 1st, Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd, p. 147. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
^ ^a ^b Roberts, David (2001). British Hit Singles, 14th, London: Guinness World Records Limited, p. 43. ISBN 0-85156-156-X.
^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums, 19th, London: Guinness World Records Limited, p. 321. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.