Funk | blog of funk

Bed ‘O’ Roses

DW on 3 April, 2010

Ian Dury is one of my heroes. He was a unique person, a true bohemian, a painter who went on to make hit records with unforgettable lyrics, punk attitude, and irresistable funk, who performed and sang like a demented music hall artist.

But along with his raucous, explicit, confrontational demeanour, Ian Dury also wrote tender, touching, sublime lyrics and before he died aged 57, he wrote in 1998 one final masterpiece of an album, Mr Love Pants, with his best collaborator Chaz Jankel, and his old band The Blockheads.

This song Bed ‘O’ Roses has him at his honest, self-aware best, and also combines a superb jazz-rock-funk groove with Dury’s hilarious but telling lyric on a disastrous love affair.

“You robbed me of my natural sense of humour
And then you nailed my bollocks to the door….”

I saw Ian Dury a dozen or so times – he never disappointed.

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What a Waste

DW on 19 November, 2009

Some songs stand out for having changed your life. This once changed mine in one, classy Thursday afternoon radio moment of inspiration which I shall never forget. Dave Cash, Capital Radio, London 95.8FM. Ian Dury and the Blockheads – What a Waste.

I was astonished at the music, physically entranced to the extent that I grabbed the pretty powerful mono transister set and pushed my ear up against it so as not to lose a moment of the incredible hypnotism that was pouring out of speaker and into my lug hole. He was singing in English, in my accent, or close to it, using words which spoke to me about my life – over a beautiful lilting, funky reggae beat, with a screaming chorus of sexual intensity

“WHAT A WASTE WHAT A WASTE – BUT I DON’T MIND!”

I adopted this band and this man instantly. I have very few heroes, but Ian Dury is one. He blended funk with punk, poetry with blasphemy, vulnerability with defiance, sympathy with the anarchy of the day. Like many a true innovator, to this day he is less celebrated than he should be. It was truly a golden cross-over moment for both pop music – punk spawning really interesting hybrids as it became new wave – and for me.

I lost my virginity to the album, New Boots and Panties; and the songs of Ian Dury became entwined with my destiny. He set many good and bad examples, which is just the way it should be. I went to art school in part because of Ian Dury, and leaving art school, went on to make music professionally, just like he did. Mr Dury died tragically young of liver cancer just as his second career as actor was taking off, but still, he was brave to the end.

Ian, old fruit, I miss your honest and wry majesty, and I salute you.

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Mother of All Funk Chords

DW on 11 March, 2009

People on the outside often don’t get what’s going on inside, and that never applied more than to Twitter. I use it a lot for general information, tips, first-hand referrals, and entertainment. Thanks to Mr_Trick (a recommended follow) for this little beauty, which shows what can be done with a good sense of rhythm, a non-linear video editing package, and the mother of all funk chords.

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