Funky Gibbon Around the World
Perhaps because it was a top five single, The Goodies' biggest hit - The Funky Gibbon - was released in many different countries. Following is a selection of the singles I have found over the years. If you know of any more let me know by sending an email to president@goodiesruleok.com.
The Funky Gibbon / Sick-Man Blues (Australia)
M7 Records MSB-114
Copyright 1975
The Funky Gibbon was twice released on a single in Australia. The first time, in
1975, the single had the usual B-side, Sick-Man Blues. As seen in the next entry, a year later The Funky Gibbon made its second appearance on Australia's M7 record label, this time with the song Custard Pie on the flip side.
The Funky Gibbon / Sick-Man Blues (France)
Bradley’s Records - 640.056
Copyright 1975
The Funky Gibbon release in France included the traditional B-side, Sick-Man Blues. It came in a picture sleeve sporting a drawing of a gibbon.
The Funky Gibbon / Sick-Man Blues (Ireland)
PYE Records - BRAD 7504
Copyright 1975
PYE Records released The Funky Gibbon in Ireland with Sick-Man Blues on the flip side.
The Funky Gibbon / Sick-Man Blues (JAPAN)
Bradley’s Records – MA-24-BR
Japan's release of The Funky Gibbon has one of the most creative picture sleeves, though the comic-book style artwork
seems to feature a super gorilla rather than a gibbon.
The picture sleeve mistakenly lists the B-side as "Shick-Man Blues", but the song title is correct on the record itself
The Funky Gibbon / Sick-Man Blues (Spain)
Bradley’s Records – 06-099
Spain's release of The Funky Gibbon featured the usual B-side, Sick-Man Blues, but came in a unique picture sleeve.
The Funky Gibbon / Sick-Man Blues (UK)
Bradley’s Records – BRAD 7504
The original UK release of The Funky Gibbon and Sick-Man Blues.
The Funky Gibbon / The Funky Gibbon (US Promo)
20th Century Records - TC-2189
In the United States, 20th Century Records released this promotional single with The Funky Gibbon on both sides. The song is in stereo on one
side and mono on the other (neither side is specified as being the A-side).
The non-promo version of the single (which has the same catalog number, and can be seen in the previous entry) has the stereo version of The Funky Gibbon on the A-side and The Inbetweenies on the B-side.
In my experience, the promo version is more common than the other version.
The Funky Gibbon / Custard Pie (Australia)
M7 Records MSB-153
Copyright 1976
The Funky Gibbon proved popular enough in Australia to be twice released on the M7 label. As seen in the previous
entry, the first release was in 1975 and had Sick-Man Blues on the B-side.
In 1976 The Funky Gibbon was released on M7 with the song Custard Pie on the flip side. This appears to be the only time Custard Pie was released on a single.
The Funky Gibbon / Sick-Man Blues (Germany)
Hansa – 16 012 AT
Germany's release of The Funky Gibbon included the usual B-side, Sick-Man Blues. The picture sleeve included a
publicity photo of The Goodies on the front and text about the group (in German) on the back. An English translation of the text was posted in The Goodies Fan Club Clarion & Globe Newsletter issue 73.
The Funky Gibbon / The Funky Gibbon (Italy)
(COVER VERSION performed by The O"Connis Band)
International - IS 20164
Copyright 1975
Special Juke Box version - International JB 642
Copyright 1975
Instead of releasing The Goodies' single, Italy's International records put out a single with The O'Connis band performing The Funky Gibbon on one side; an instrumental version of this song was on the B-side.
The Juke Box version of the record has the same content but is listed here due to its having a different catalog number.
The Funky Gibbon / Sick-Man Blues (New Zealand)
Viking Record Company LTD - VS318
Copyright 1975
This New Zealand release of The Funky Gibbon includes the usual B-side, Sick-Man Blues.
Take Good Care of Yourself / Get Down Tonight/ I Forgot to Say I Love You / The Funky Gibbon (Thailand)
Stereo Records – ST 9
Copyright 1975
In what is probably an unlicensed release, this EP (extended play) record includes The Funky Gibbon in addition to works by three other artists. The picture sleeve, which features a photo of the Three Degrees, mistakenly lists The Goodies' song as "The Fanky Gibbon", but the song title is correct on the record's label.
Side One of the record has Take Good Care of Yourself (listed on the picture sleeve as Take Good of Yourself) by The Three Degrees and Get Down Tonight by K.C. & The Sunshine Band.
Side Two has I Forgot to Say I Love You by the Chi-Lites and The Funky Gibbon by The Goodies.
The Funky Gibbon / The Inbetweenies (US)
20th Century Recrods - TC-2189
In the United States, 20th Century Records released the unique combination of The Funky Gibbon with The
Inbetweenies.
In my experience, it is less common to find this single than the promotional version (shown in the next entry), which has The Funky Gibbon on both sides (mono on one side and stereo on the other).
The standard single uses the stereo version of both The Funky Gibbon and The Inbetweenies.