Excerpt:
The album was released in the UK on 21st April 1997 on the Citadel label (CIT1CD); the title track was released as a single on the same day (CIT101CDS). This single included the non-album track F*ck It Up.
Hunter had read a newspaper article about the outrageous Texan P.J. Proby and has celebrated him, i.e. on the Strings Attached effort. He thought of Proby as a wonderful scamp and loved the arrogance of his Top Ten hit Somewhere. Ian wore out jukeboxes in pubs in Northampton by playing the song over and over. In fact, he even met Proby once among a large gathering of leather-clad rockers and admired him because he didn't play any games; he was the real deal.
The first verse is to be taken with a grain of salt stating that "you had it all." The woman who messed everything up had a semi-detached house in Finchley but it is an underhanded compliment; the market had a reputation for squalor and immorality. The high-brow reference to Finchley is William Hogarth's satirical depiction of a fictional mustering of troops from the second Jacobite rebellion of 1745. Finchley also appears as a setting for a character in The Goon Show, Monty Python's The Funniest Joke in the World, and as the background for Iron Maiden's second album. The "dwarf on the lawn" is a garden gnome.
The third verse refers to three famous love couples and lastly Morecambe and Wise, the most famous English comic double act ever. Finally, the singer just goes to drink it off at the pub.
The song fits perfectly as a B-side, almost a throwaway, sung semi-serious and vulgar.
Ian Hunter On Track for Sonicbond Publishing, TheDoctorOfDigital@pm.me
English comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984. They have been described as "the most illustrious, and the best-loved, double-act that Britain has ever produced"
A semi-detached house
William Hogarth painted his satirical March of the Guards to Finchley in 1750. It is a depiction of a fictional mustering of troops on London's Tottenham Court Road to march north to Finchley to defend the capital from the second Jacobite rebellion of 1745.
A number of fictional characters have been associated with the area, including:
- In Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop Mr Garland, one of the principal characters, lives in "Abel Cottage, Finchley".
- In More Peers, a book of comic verse by Hilaire Belloc, one of the poems is about Lord Finchley.
- Bluebottle, a character in the 1950s BBC radio series The Goon Show, hails from East Finchley. Peter Sellers, who played Bluebottle, lived in the area at one time.
- In the Disney film series The Chronicles of Narnia, the Pevensies are from Finchley, although in the original book series it is not specified which part of London they are from.
The Monty Python's Flying Circus comedy sketch "The Funniest Joke in the World" is set in Finchley.
In various episodes of the Channel 4 comedy Peep Show Finchley is used as an on-site shooting location.
The background of the cover of Iron Maiden's second studio album, Killers, depicts Etchingham Court, North Finchley, where artist Derek Riggs lived at the time.
From the earliest days, the market had a reputation for squalor and immorality.[2] The notorious highwayman and burglar Jack Sheppard was held at the George Inn on Market Place following his fourth arrest whilst disguised as a butcher.[1] Following heavy bombing during World War II the market was extensively rebuilt, with most of the shops closing. The last shops closed on the street in 1973, and the last commercial premises remaining, a pub, the Duke of Cambridge, closed and was torn down in 2009. However, the area maintained its association with pig farmingwell into the 20th Century, with a herd of 25 pigs kept on nearby Prospect Place as late as 1955.[1] No trace of the market now exists other than the road name.
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Garden gnomes (German: Gartenzwerge, lit. 'garden dwarfs') are lawn ornament figurines of small humanoid creatures based on the mythological creature and diminutive spirit which occur in Renaissance magic and alchemy, known as gnomes. They also draw on the German folklore of the dwarf.
Burton & Taylor is a BBC Four TV film directed by Richard Laxton, and based on the legendary acting duo and former husband and wife, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, during their preparation for a 1983 theatrical production of the play, Private Lives. The film stars Helena Bonham Carter and Dominic West in the title roles.
Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew, 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman, 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984. They have been described as "the most illustrious, and the best-loved, double-act that Britain has ever produced".[1]
Lyrics to "F*ck It Up"
F*ck It Up
(Ian Hunter)
A semi in Finchley
A dwarf on the lawn
Satellite TV
You had it all
An' no more Mr Nice Guy
I've had enough
'Cos you, you had to f*ck it up
You, you had to f*ck it up
You, you had to f*ck it up
You broke our vows it's all over now
We were Taylor and Burton
Bonnie and Clyde
Romeo and Juliet
Morecambe and Wise
An' no more Mr Nice Guy
I'm off down the pub
'Cos you, you had to f*ck it up
Yeah you, you had to f*ck it up
An' you, you had to f*ck it up
It's all over now an' I still miss you somehow baby
How could you look me straight in the eye
Knowing full well you've got a bit on the side
Are there no depths to which you would not sink
Haven't you thought what the neighbours might think
Well no more Mr Nice Guy
Well I've gotten so harsh
'Cos you, you always f*ck it up
'Cos you, you have to f*ck it up
'Cos you, you had to f*ck it up
It's all over now baby you broke our vows
You, you had to f*ck it up
You, you had to f*ck it up
You, you had to f*ck it up
Isn't that the truth, isn't that the truth, isn't that the truth, isn't that
the truth
You, you had to f*ck it up
You, you had to f*ck it up
You, you had to f*ck it up
Ian Hunter CD: "The Artful Dodger"
Sleeve and track listing
Citadel CITCD 1.
Sleeve variations
Original Norwegian sleeve
UK release picture disc
Review
Ian recorded his 1997 album in Canada and Norway in 1995. Ian used a variety of musicians on this album, but he retained Bjørn Nessjø as producer because Ian was impressed with his work on Dirty Laundry. Ian jointly owns this recording with Bjørn (recordings are normally owned by record companies), and is now leasing it to record companies. Ian felt he needed management before he could do this in the UK and USA, which is why this album was released initially only in Norway (in 1996).
This is a strong album, though it takes a couple of listens to get used to. This is mainly the fault of Too Much, which is a slow opener - the rockers come later, but it is not another Laundry (that said, tho', a friend of mine bought this album immediately after the Burnley gig purely on the strength of Too Much). The standout tracks are Now Is The Time, Something To Believe In, 23A Swan Hill and The Artful Dodger. Michael Picasso, Ian's tribute to his mate Mick Ronson is quieter and more subdued than the live version we'd grown used to (from tapes of the Ronson Memorial show). Resurrection Mary is also a different tempo from the version performed at the Mick Ronson Memorial Concert in 1994.
Ian has described this album as being his most focussed. He also says that he is still writing... maybe his next album won't take another six years!
The album was released in the UK on 21st April 1997 on the Citadel label (CIT1CD); the title track was released as a single on the same day (CIT101CDS). This single included the non-album track F*ck It Up.
The UK release is a picture CD and comes with some nice photos of Ian, together with lyrics.
| F*ck It Up | 5:59 | Originally the b-side to The Artful Dodger. It can also be found on the 2014 and 2016 reissues of The Artful Dodger. |
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