It's Just Not Cricket

"It's Just Not Cricket"
Single by The Twelfth Man
Released 1984
Format EMI
Recorded 1983-1984
Genre Comedy
Label EMI
Songwriter(s) Billy Birmingham
Producer(s) Billy Birmingham
The Twelfth Man singles chronology
"It's Just Not Cricket"
(1984)		 "Marvellous!"
(1993)

"It's Just Not Cricket"
(1984)		 "Marvellous!"
(1993)

"It's Just Not Cricket" is the debut single of The Twelfth Man, a series of comedy productions by skilled impersonator Billy Birmingham. The single topping the charts for three weeks in June 1984, and was the second highest selling single in Australia in 1984 behind "Dancing in the Dark" by Bruce Springsteen.

Background and release

At the time of "It’s Just Not Cricket's" release, Birmingham was running his own music marketing consultancy and helping manage fellow comedian Austen Tayshus. In a 2014 interview with Sydney Morning Herald, Birmingham explains “The year before I’d written "Australiana" [also a No. 1 hit] for Austen Tayshus and I wanted to see if I could do something for myself. One day I went out in my backyard with a pencil and paper and wrote what would basically become the six or seven minutes of "It’s Just Not Cricket". Some mates came around that night and asked what I’d been doing all day. I played them the dictaphone recording and they got a good laugh out of it.” adding “I’d actually worked for EMI Music back in 1975 and I had them as a client of my own business, so it was an obvious choice as to where I’d take this thing.” [1]

Track listing

  • Side A "It's Just Not Cricket" (Part 1) - 5:44
  • Side B "It's Just Not Cricket" (Part 2) - 4:25

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1984) Position
Australian (Kent Music Report)[2] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (1984) Position
Australian (Kent Music Report)[3] 2

See also

References

  1. ↑ "It's Just Not Cricket: when The 12th Man went No. 1". Sydney Morning Herald. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  2. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. p. 315. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988.
  3. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. p. 436. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.


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