A+M Records | UK | 7" | 1979 | AMS 7431

The Dickies: Banana Splits UK 7″ [1979]

1. Banana Splits [The Tra La La Song]
2. Hideous
3. Got It At The Store

Yesterday, I wrote about the thrills of discovering new bands via the [then] new medium of music videos. For a few years there, the field was in the hands of nimble, quick moving New Wave acts, primarily based in the UK. But not always. Another band I discovered on Rockworld was from Southern California but reached my ears [and eyes] via the UK branch of A+M Records. I had first heard The Dickies when my friend Charles had bought a copy of “Incredible Shrinking Dickies” and we played the group on our high school radio station.

By the time that Rockworld came on the air in Orlando in 1980, we always made it a point to catch the broadcast. In fact, I have distinct memories of Charles being over at our home with it on at least once. One evening I happened to see the video for their cover of the  “Banana Splits” theme from The Dickies. If ever there was an example of form and content being more ideally suited to one another, I haven’t seen it yet!

What better band to make a sugar rush-fueled version of the kiddy show theme that has an eerie resemblances to Bob Marley’s track “Buffalo Soldier?” And by the way, The Splits track came first! The video was nothing special – instead of the band miming on a white seamless, the band were videotaped on a normal stage strewn with inflatable bananas. But the buzz-hungry speed of it all simply took my breath away. Knowing now what I know about recording music, I’d be flabbergasted if the backing track for this had not been recorded at half-speed then played back at normal speed, Joe Meek style. Then again, The Dickies played concerts. If they couldn’t deliver live, it wouldn’t have lasted for them and they still exist today!

I could not wait to get my hands on a copy of this single, but wouldn’t you know it; it was a UK non-LP A-side and not on either of their A+M albums. As it transpires, there was a US white label promo 7″ of the track, but I never ran across it ever. In fact, I just found out about it at Discogs.com. It remained until the mid-eighties, when I began to venture out into mail order record buying that I finally bought a copy of this must-have single. This was one of the earlier things I had wanted that I got right up front when I started catalog ordering my music with a friend who sometimes doubled up with me when making an order. Like many Dickies UK 7″ers, it came in a picture sleeve and in yellow colored vinyl.

There was a 1989 compilation called “Great Dictations” on US A+M that finally put this song into the digital realm, but I missed on buying that, even as it was in the cutout bins for a song at Camelot Music in the early 90s. Why, I can’t say. It remained until 2001 when Captain Oi! re-issued “Incredible Shrinking Dickies” and “Dawn Of The Dickies” on CD with the full compliment of A+M era bonus tracks that I finally had a copy on CD to play with impunity. And damned well time, too! No home should be without these sterling examples of cartoon speedpunk that are classics of their kind. But none moreso that the TV kiddie show theme that has never sounded better [or faster].

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