We do our best endeavours to keep our doobries clean

Ten years ago today, the world of music lost a unique talent. Mr Ian Robins Dury was an unexpected arrival on the music scene at the height of the punk era, arriving as he did as a pub singer fresh from art school, with songs with lyrics that actually made sense! Disabled by polio as a child, he struck a distinctively unusual figure, all wobbly and wielding his walking stick as a prop - part Bill Sykes, part decadent dandy.

It was with his lyrical talents however, adeptly served by the uber-talented Chaz Jankel's music, that he rose above the crowd and became the "national treasure" we all remember so fondly. New Boots And Panties is even today (quite rightly) regarded as a masterpiece, and regularly features at the upper end of "all-time best album" ratings. Mr Dury's hits are all instantly familiar - Sex and Drugs and Rock'n'Roll, What A Waste, Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, Reasons To Be Cheerful, Pt. 3 among them. Whenever they come on the jukebox, generations later even people who weren't around at the height of his success will immediately sing along. How to choose between them, however?

I am particularly fond of this one, with all its subtlety:

Ian Dury and the Blockheads - I Wanna Be Straight

However, this is undoubtedly my all time favourite.

Ian Dury and the Blockheads - Common as Muck

You're not Bridget Bardot, I'm not Jack Palance.
I'm not Shirley Temple by any circumstance,
Or Fred Astaire

You're not Sidney Tafler, I'm not Dirk Bogarde.
I'm not very stylish, and you're not avant garde,
Or Lionel Blair

We're as common as muck.
Bon chance, viel glück, good luck
Where bold is beautiful, we don't give a damn
Luvva duck, we're as common as muck.

You're not Victor Hugo, I'm not Patience Strong,
I'm not Rodney Rygate or Yvonne Goolagong.
Shirley Abicair, Oh!

I'm not Nellie Melba, you're not Nellie Dean
We do our best endeavours to keep our doobries clean
Because we care!

We're as common as muck.
Buona fortuna, vayas con Dios, Good luck!
Where bold is beautiful, we don't give a damn.
Luvva duck, We're as common as muck.

We're as common as muck.
Bon chance, viel glück, Good luck!
Where bold is beautiful, we don't give a damn.
Luvva duck! We're as common as muck.

And just by way of a perfect tribute, here is the wonderfully weird Nina Hagen with her version of Mr Dury's most successful number:

Nina Hagen - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

Jools Holland's biography of Ian Dury

You’re not Sydney Tafler, I’m not Dirk Bogarde

Out of my sick-bed and onto the sofa - the best therapy I can get is to watch old black and white movies. Lucky we have Passport to Pimlico to rely on (and a selection of other Ealing comedies and Margaret Rutherford films)...

Here's a taster:

Passport to Pimlico

Passport to Pimlico BFI entry

This film is a great joy - anything that has Stanley Holloway, Hermione Baddely, Charles Hawtrey, Margaret Rutherford and Sydney Tafler in it must be good!



And so this song comes to mind. (It must be the Lemsip...)

Ian Dury - Common as Muck

Common as Muck
You're not Bridget Bardot, I'm not Jack Palance.
I'm not Shirley Temple by any circumstance,
Or Fred Astaire

You're not Sydney Tafler, I'm not Dirk Bogarde.
I'm not very stylish and you're not avant garde,
Or Lionel Blair

We're as common as muck.
Bonne chance, viel glück, good luck
Where bold is beautiful we don't give a damn
Luvva duck, we're as common as muck.

You're not Victor Hugo, I'm not Patience Strong,
I'm not Rodney Rygate or Yvonne Goolagong.
Shirley Abicair, Oh!

I'm not Nellie Melba, you're not Nellie Dean
We do our best endeavours to keep our doobries clean
Because we care!

We're as common as muck.
Buona fortuna, vayas con Dios, good luck!
Where bold is beautiful we don't give a damn.
Luvva duck, we're as common as muck.

We're as common as muck.
Bonne chance, viel glück, good luck!
Where bold is beautiful we don't give a damn.
Luvva duck! We're as common as muck.

PS If anyone knows who Rodney Rygate is, I'd be grateful for the information...