The band started when frontman Dury (born in Upminster, Essex, United Kingdom on 12 May 1942 and died 27 March 2000), had a chance encounter in a musical instrument hire shop with guitarist Chaz Jankel. Jankel took Dury's lyrics, fashioned a number of songs, and they began recording with drummer Charley Charles, bassist Norman Watt-Roy and the former Kilburns saxophonist Davey Payne. An album was completed, but major record labels passed on the band. However, next door to Dury's manager's office was the newly formed Stiff Records, a perfect home for Dury's maverick style. The classic single "Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll", marked Dury's Stiff debut and this was swiftly followed by an album. titled 'New Boots and Panties', which was to eventually achieve platinum status.
It wasn't until October 1977 that Dury and his band started to go out as Ian Dury and the Blockheads, when the band signed up for the Stiff "Live Stiffs Tour" alongside Elvis Costello And The Attractions, Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric and Larry Wallis. The tour was a success and Stiff launched a concerted Ian Dury marketing campaign, resulting in the Top Ten hit What a Waste and the classic UK number one Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick. The band toured to great acclaim throughout Europe.
The band's second album Do It Yourself was released in June 1979 in a Barney Bubbles-designed sleeve of which there were over a dozen variations, all based on samples from the Crown wallpaper catalogue. Another top ten single, Reasons to be Cheerful, kept Dury in the public eye.
In 1980 Jankel left The Blockheads to concentrate on a solo career and was replaced by former Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, who also contributed to the next album Laughter and its two minor hit singles.
Ian Dury And The Blockheads disbanded in 1981 after Dury secured a new recording deal with Polydor Records through A&R man Frank Neilson, choosing to work with a group of young musicians which he named The Music Students and recorded the album Four Thousand Weeks' Holiday. This album marked a departure from his usual style and was not as well received by fans for its American jazz influence.
The Blockheads reformed several times before Ian Dury's death, most notably to play a series of benefit concerts for Charley Charles.
Hey
Ian Dury and the Blockheads Lyrics
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Come on Lawrence... come on Lawrence...
Let's go out and have a prayer meeting
Take a chance with our new shotgun
Hey! Come on Lawrence!
It's time we escaped again, my son
Oi! Come on!
Hey, hey, take me away I hate waking up in this place
There's nutters in here who whistle and cheer
When they're watching a one-legged race
And a one-legged prefect gets me in bed
Makes me play with his dick
And One legged orderly is shouting the odds
Driving me bloody well sick
When I get better, when I get strong
Will I be alright in the head?
They're making me well, if they're caring for me
Why do they boot me and punch me?
Why do they bash me and crunch me?
Some of the counterpanes are pink and other ones are blue
Hey, hey, take me away
From the ones that go mad every night
They're crazy and dangerous one-legged sods
Who have to sit down when they bite
One-legged Peter who knows bloody well
He's got worse ever since he came in
This other poor cunt, he was born back-to-front
And he's always got stuff on his chin
When I get better, when I get strong
Will I be alright in the head?
Give me a sweet and accost me
I'll do what the fellas have lost me
I know it's brown
And the walls have been scraped
With blood where someone hanged themselves
I hope so!
Get it?
Hey, hey, take me away
I'm the first to put last in the past
Take the handcuffs away and please do what I say
'Cause I hate the untouchable cast
I want to be normal in body and soul
And normal in thought, work and in deed
And everyone here will whist
le and stare
When I walk out of here, oh please
Hey Hey Take Me Away is a song by Ian Dury about escaping a mental institution. The lyrics paint a vivid picture of the terrible conditions and experiences of someone trapped in such an environment. The use of colorful metaphors and imagery help to emphasize the singer's feelings of isolation and desperation.
The opening lines "What's all this spunk on the duckboards?" is a reference to the dirty and unhygienic conditions of the asylum, with the "duckboards" being a wooden board placed on the ground to avoid mud and water. Ian Dury's use of Lawrence, a name that is not typically associated with mental illness, shows a sense of irony and humor that is characteristic of his work. The line "Let's go out and have a prayer meeting, take a chance with our new shotgun" is a darkly comedic reference to the singer's desire to escape the asylum by any means necessary. The play on words and exaggeration in the lyrics adds to the overall quirkiness of the song.
The chorus "Hey, hey, take me away, I hate waking up in this place" is a cry for help and a longing for escape. The singer expresses feelings of fear and vulnerability, with "nutters in here who whistle and cheer, when they're watching a one-legged race." The use of alliteration and rhyme makes the song more memorable and catchy, despite the dark subject matter.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: IAN ROBINS DURY, MICHAEL WILLIAM GALLAGHER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind