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marianna
Was Ian considered mostly a novelty act, or did he have a more serious reputation as a satiric singer-songwriter? He was one of the Stiff Records stable, which had some slightly odd folks such as Wreckless Eric, Lene Lovich, and Rachel Sweet. It was also the same timeframe as Jilted John.
For those that knew about him (other than just knowing his name for one or two songs - Rhythm stick and Sex, drugs, Rock 'n' roll) he wasn't thought of as a novelty but rather, a unique, self made genre - brilliant lyricist/poet extraordinaire - with fantastic rhythms to boot - although he did eventually confess to 'nicking' the bass line for Sex......
Listening to Ornette Coleman's, "Ramblin'." You'll find Charlie Haden's bass solo in Ian Dury's "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll"... .
Chas Jankel, Dury's writing partner, wrote.....
“I was in his flat one day, and there was this album playing. Ian went off to make a couple of cups of coffee, and left the record playing. Then I heard it – the riff he’d come up with (For Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll) – right there in the bass line. Ian came back in with the coffee, and a cheeky grin on his face, watching as the realisation dawned on me.”
The album in question was 1960’s Change Of The Century by innovative jazz man Ornette Coleman. The particular song was called Ramblin’.
“I know Ian actually made a point of contacting the bassist on that track, Charlie Haden, and coming clean about how he’d ‘borrowed’ his part. But Charlie admitted too that he himself had lifted it from a French Creole song, so it seemed that the riff had been passed down the years.”
And he wrote about really unusual stuff.
Dury caught polio when he was a kid and was sent to a home for severely mentally and physically deformed children. he wore a caliper all his life.
From that he wrote Spasticus autisticus. Originally he wanted UNICEF to use it for their Year of the disabled in 1981 - they refused.
However, move on 30 odd years, in 2012, Spasticus autisticus was performed live on television and broadcast worldwide during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics, by Orbital and members of the Graeae Theatre Company.
They was also Dance of the screamers - about disabled kids - ie. One line from it...."it's hard to be a hero, handsome when you've had your helmet cracked".
And.....don't forget the largely ignored but imo largely underated, Poo Poo in The prawn (understood in the Uk to be the sea)..
I took a sudden notion
To go down to the ocean
I'd got my sun-tan lotion
My flippers and my mask
In proper distribution
Of fully-formed ablutions
Formed an ocean of pollution
In which I dare don't bask
Some turds were teeny-tiny
And some were big and shiny
But they all @#$%& up the briney
In which I dipped my toe
If you go swimming in the shite-us
You'll get worse than dermatitis
From the sea of grey detritus
Where the sewage ebbs and flows
There's no respite
From the cess-pit
No shelter from the pong,
The poor old ocean
Is full of motion
Where the hell did we go wrong?
Like a lamb off to the slaughter
Poured myself some water
I failed to spot I'd caughta
Little creature in my cup
I was well and truly bollowed
From the fires of hell that followed
T'was the cup of life I'd swallowed
And it almost did me up
Something coming
Through the plumbing
That should not be there at all,
The glass is brimming
And things are swimming
And quite frankly, I'm appalled
I was a very hungry fella
I defrosted my paella
Came down with Salmonella
Three weeks intensive care
They failed to send technicians in
To check the air-conditioning
Which was unfortunately transmissioning
A case of Legionnaires
There's a malaise
In the mayonnaise
There's a poo-poo in the prawn
Where we missed them
In the system
Little germs are being born
There's no respite
From the cess-pit
There's no shelter from the pong
Where the hell did we go wrong?
All accompanied by brilliant full music.