| "I Wanna 1-2-1 With You" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Solid Gold Chartbusters | |
| Released | 13 December 1999 |
| Genre | Novelty [1] |
| Label | Virgin [2] [1] |
| Songwriter(s) | |
"I Wanna 1-2-1 With You" is a mobile telephone-themed novelty-pop song by "Solid Gold Chartbusters", written by musicians Guy Pratt and Jimmy Cauty, and comedy writer [1] Lloyd Stanton. [2] The lead singer was Denise Palmer; [2] [3] the sleeve also credits Tessa Niles for vocals and Debbie Chazen as the voice of a switchboard operator. [2] Due to the involvement of Cauty (KLF) and Pratt (Pink Floyd), Virgin Records touted Solid Gold Chartbusters as "The World's First Novelty Supergroup". [1]
Contents
"I Wanna 1-2-1 With You" was released in an attempt to reach number one on the Christmas 1999 UK Singles Chart. [1] [3] Cauty had previously had a novelty number one in collaboration with Bill Drummond - Doctorin' the Tardis - and the duo had written a book - The Manual - on how to top the charts. [3] [4] In the month prior to the release of "I Wanna 1-2-1 With You", Cauty told NME that the song "[is] awful. Hear it once and that’s it, it’s all over. There is nothing vaguely hip, it’s just pure now, throwaway novelty pop." [3]
The music video featured Cauty and Pratt dressed as mobile phones, [3] along with appearances by John Thomson of the Fast Show, Stephen Marcus, and Rowland Rivron. [1] [3] Costumes from the video were later used in an advertising campaign in which online film clips purportedly showed pranksters stealing the cellphones of unsuspecting passersby. [5]
Reviewing the single in the NME, Johnny Cigarettes wrote that the record by "‘the world’s first novelty supergroup’... looks set to be another first – a novelty record that is so unspeakably annoying that NO FUCKER IN THE COUNTRY BUYS IT". [6] The single subsequently spent one week in the UK Top 75, peaking at number 62. [7]
