The quintessential novelty hit and definition of a “song you love to hate”, Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep earned Middle Of The Road their first number one in June 1971.

Since I started looking (and listening) back to the songs of my childhood, my musical diary has evolved from ‘Singles I bought’ through ‘Songs I liked’ to more generally songs that made an impression on me, whether I liked them or not.

Inevitably this has sometimes led to me posting songs I don’t necessarily love but which nevertheless left a lasting impression, for better or worse. This is one of the latter.

It’s almost unlistenably annoying. Yet it was so much a part of the soundtrack of my childhood  I cannot just consign it to the past. I bet no one has forgotten this first single by Middle Of The Road, which went to No.1 in June 1971.

Their sound is so quirky, and Sally Carr’s strangely piercing warble so odd, that you’d imagine this was a novelty hit and they must be one-hit wonders. But no. They became a Europe-wide phenomenon, selling millions of records.

Middle Of The Road came from Glasgow and first found fame after entering – and winning – the TV talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1969. Not for them it didn’t. Failing to build on their TV fame, they moved to Italy, where an Italian producer reinvented them with a new sound. It was an instant success.

Naming their five hit singles would be a tough pub quiz question for pop fans of a certain age. Should you wonder, they were (in order) Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep; Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum; Soley Soley; Sacramento (A Wonderful Town); and Samson And Delilah.