Jimpy Tarr (vcls, tambourine), Roger Queensbury (bells), Gunman Hunt (percussion, vcls), Doon Young (bells, vcls), Jimpy McDougall (accordion, bells), Ajax ‘Jimpy’ Ramekin (penny whistle).
As far as strange records go, ‘Lift Up Yer Wee Breasts, Jonnie’ certainly takes some beating, even by the standards of late 1969. The Hollow Dogs were purportedly a Scottish folk collective, formed in the island of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides . In reality, though, they were the brainchild of Jimpy Tarr, a 23 year old tambourinist/sing-artist from Arundel in Sussex
The song starts with just over sixty seconds of strident campanology from its three bell players, who are soon accompanied by tuneless meanderings on the penny whistle. This sonic assault is then stepped up a notch by an overpowering accordion and tambourine duet, while Tarr enunciates those remarkable lyrics in a strong, Scottish accent:
‘Lift up yer wee breasts, Jonnie.
Prove yer a girl before old God
I’ll marry thee upon the morn
If proof there be on yer old chest cods
Lift up yer wee breasts, Jonnie
I’ll milk ye if I may
To prove that our wains may suckle
‘Pon your breasts on our wedding day
Predictably, the single was immediately banned by all radio stations apart from the hovercraft pirate station Radio Crispian, who played it to the exclusion of all other records, as was their policy.
Station Manager Jason Ponce said at the time, “We’re going with this waxing as we believe it’ll be a huge hit. In fact, I’ve put on a huge bet with some people that it’ll be number one for the rest of the year and then it’ll be the Christmas number one. I’ve actually bet the hovercraft that we broadcast from. I’m never wrong about these things and I fully expect to be a millionaire in the New Year”.
The single, however, stiffed at number thirty-nine and soon dropped out of the charts completely. It’s thought today that Jimpy Tarr was actually the only person who performed on the record and that the other members were fictitious. This is disputed, however, by percussionist Gunman Hunt, who went on to be the drummer with The Crackpots (‘Time Is Best When It’s There’).
Tarr was never heard of in the music business again, but The Hollow Dogs and their solitary single have had a lasting influence, chiefly on The Piss Chickens (‘If Rain Smelled’), The Photographers (‘Snap Happy’) and The Unusuals (‘I Fear Retrospect’), whose lead guitarist, Martin Gulliver, reputedly owned one hundred and thirteen ties.
