ITSY BITSY TEENIE WEENIE YELLOW POLKA DOT BIKINI
“Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini” is a novelty song telling the story of a shy girl wearing a revealing polkadot bikini at the beach. It was written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss and first released in June 1960 by Brian Hyland with orchestra conducted by John Dixon. At a time when bikini bathing suits were still seen as too risqué to be mainstream, the song prompted a sudden take off in bikini sales and is credited as being one of the earliest contributors to the acceptance of the bikini in society. The early 1960s saw a slew of surf movies and other film and television productions that rapidly built on the song’s momentum. (More from Wikipedia)
For the month of December 1963, the Lonely Ones performed seven days a week at a club called Storyville in Cologne (Köln), Germany (almost exactly one year after the last of the Beatles’ several residencies in Hamburg, Germany took place). British singer Paul Hanford was a sometime “guest vocalist” over this period; he previously had a hit in the U.K. with “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” (Brian Hyland had the original hit in 1960 with “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini”). At this point, the band still had more of a pop sound but would transition to a harder R&B band the following year.
(May 2014)
