The band is best known for its 1976 number one hit The Combine Harvester but has a history stretching nearly 40 years, and still performs to this day.
In its heyday the band was very popular despite disdain from "serious" critics.
The band recently released a new single "One for the Bristol City" and were the centre of a campaign to get it into the charts for September 30th 2007. The band also appeared with members of the Bristol City team to sign any singles bought from Virgin Megastores in the Mall Galleries in Bristol on Thursday the 27th September 2007.
The name of the band came from the fodder beet Mangelwurzel. As can be determined from the subject matter of many of their songs, cider is very popular amongst Wurzels and their fans. Their particular "genre" of music has been named "Scrumpy And Western" (scrumpy is a name given to traditional cider).
History
Adge Cutler and The Wurzels
The Wurzels were formed in 1966 as a backing group for singer/songwriter Adge Cutler.
With a thick Somerset accent, Adge played on his West Country roots, singing many folk songs with local themes such as cider making (and drinking), farming, local villages and industrial work songs, often with a comic slant.
During the 1960s, the band became immensely popular regionally, and the release of the single Drink Up Thy Zider led to national fame and number 45 in the UK charts.
A number of live albums were recorded at local pubs and clubs, filled with Adge Cutler penned favourites such as Easton in Gordano, The Champion Dung Spreader, and Thee's Got'n Where Thee Cassn't Back'n, Hassn't? together with songs written by others and some reworkings of popular folk songs of the time.
Adge Cutler was killed in May 1974 after crashing his car in Chepstow following a Wurzels concert in Hereford and is buried in Nailsea.
The Wurzels
Adge's death marked a curious turning point in the history of the Wurzels. Deprived of the main song-writing talent, the remaining Wurzels recorded The Wurzels Are Scrumptious! in 1975, an album containing many favourites from the back catalogue, including a number of previously unrecorded Cutler-written songs
In order to continue the surviving band needed its own songs, and these mostly took the formula of re-written popular pop songs of the time with the lyrics changed to include the usual Wurzel themes (cider, farming, local villages, Cheddar cheese, etc.)
In 1976, the Wurzels released "The Combine Harvester", a re-work of the song "Brand New Key", by Melanie, which became a huge UK hit, topping the charts for 2 weeks.
The band quickly followed its success with the release of a number of similarly-themed novelty songs such as I Am A Cider Drinker (another rework of an existing melody--this time "Una Paloma Blanca" which was written by and been a hit for the George Baker Selection and also covered by Jonathan King the year before) and Farmer Bill's Cowman, but by the turn of the 1980s had largely faded back in to obscurity.
The Wurzels never stopped performing, but record releases during the 1980s and 1990s were limited to even more obscure novelty singles like I Hate JR, Sunny Weston-super-Mare, and I Want To Be An Eddie Stobart Driver. This latter single (1995) from Loose Records.com got in the UK Top 100 and appeared also as a limited edition lorry shaped disc. The interest in this record sparked off renewed interest in The Wurzels.
The late 1990s saw the continuing of this revival of the fortunes for the surviving Wurzels, gaining a cult status amongst students and a resurgence in their popularity in their native West Country Under the new management of Stranglers manager Sil Willcox a number of CD releases followed, largely featuring re-recordings of older works, but also Never Mind The Bullocks, an album of cover versions of contemporary British rock songs. This album was recorded and produced by Louie Nicastro and George Allen manager of The Mission. In 2005, the band released a limited edition split single with British Sea Power. The Wurzel's covered BSP's Remember Me while BSP covered I Am A Cider Drinker. The band also supported BSP at their gig at the London Forum in November.
In 2007 it was announced that The Wurzels and Tony Blackburn would re-release I am a cider drinker again with the royalties from the song going to the BUI Prostate Cancer Care Appeal in Bristol.
The Wurzels continue to gig around the UK,[1] including playing at the Shalbourne Festival for nearly 11 years, although they pulled out of the 2007 Glastonbury Festival, having been scheduled to play the bandstand stage where they could not use their own sound engineers.[2] Although they had played the same stage at the 2000 Glastonbury Festival. They were also one of the headliners at the 2007 Bristol Community Festival.
The Wurzels are also still very popular in parts of the west country, especially with supporters of Bristol City who the band also support. Their song "One For The Bristol City" is the official club anthem. First released in 1976, a newly-recorded version of this song reached number 66 in the UK charts in September 2007. However, most fans recognise another Wurzel song "Drink Up Thy Zider" as their anthem. It is played at the final whistle at Ashton Gate if the home club win and it is constantly sung by fans along with another Wurzel song "I am a cider drinker".
The West Country-born stand-up comedian Bill Bailey occasionally references The Wurzels in his routines. In his Bewilderness show he mentions knowing them "when they were a German techno band, Die Würtzels - and then they sold out, went all oo-arr country", as well as performing a pastiche of "Combine Harvester" in the style of Chris de Burgh. In an appearance on BBC2's Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Bailey stood and saluted a playing of the intro to "Combine Harvester".
Bristol-based Portishead list The Wurzels as an influence on their MySpace site - as the only influence, in fact.
rockstar
The Wurzels Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To clubs we'll never get in
It's like the bottom of the ninth
And I'm never gonna win
This life hasn't turned out
Quite the way I want it to be
(Tell me what you want)
I want a brand new house
On an episode of Cribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
And a king size tub big enough for ten plus me
(So what you need?)
I'll need a credit card that's got no limit
And a big black jet with a bedroom in it
Gonna join the mile high club at thirty-seven thousand feet
(Been there, done, ain't done that)
I want a new tour bus full of old guitars
My own star on Hollywood Boulevard
Somewhere between Cher and James Dean is fine for me
(So how you gonna do that?)
I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair and change my name
'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
But I'll stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's gonna wind up there
Every Playboy Bunny with her bleached blond hair
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar, yeah
I wanna be great like Elvis without the tassels
Hire eight body guards that love to beat up assholes
Sign a couple autographs so I can eat my meals for free
I'm gonna dress my ass with the latest fashion
Get a front door key to the Playboy mansion
Gonna date a centerfold that loves to blow my money for me
I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair and change my name
'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
But I'll stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's gonna wind up there
Every Playboy Bunny with her bleached blond hair
And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary and today's who's who
They'll get you anything with that evil smile
Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar, yeah
I'm gonna sing those songs that offend the censors
Gonna pop my pills from a pez dispenser
I'll get washed-up singers writing all my songs
Lip sync 'em every night so I don't wrong them get
Uh, get them wrong
Oh never mind
Well, we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and they drugs is cheap
We'll all stay skinny, we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's gonna wind up there
Every Playboy Bunny with her bleached blond hair
And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary and today's who's who
They'll get you anything with that evil smile
Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial, well
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar, yeah
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
The Wurzels's song Rockstar is a satirical take on the glamourized lifestyle of a rockstar. The singer of the song is tired of the mundane life he leads and dreams of living in luxury, with a big house, a luxurious bathtub, a credit card with no limit, and a private jet with a bedroom. He wants to join the mile-high club and have his own tour bus and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He would even trade his current life for fortune and fame, willing to cut his hair and change his identity to become a star.
The song highlights how some people perceive the lifestyle of rockstars, seeing it as a way to avoid the struggles of everyday life. The lyrics also poke fun at the superficial nature of the industry and the expectations of success, with references to autographs, drugs, and groupies. The chorus of the song reinforces the desire to be a rockstar and the luxury that comes with it, with a sarcastic tone.
Rockstar is a humorous song that explores the fame and fortune associated with the life of a rockstar while also acknowledging the superficiality of it all.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm through with standing in line
I'm done waiting for life to happen to me
To clubs we'll never get in
I'm done trying to fit into a mold of what society deems as cool
It's like the bottom of the ninth
It feels like I'm at the end of my rope
And I'm never gonna win
And I feel like I'll never achieve my dreams
This life hasn't turned out
My life up until now hasn't gone as planned
Quite the way I want it to be
And I want more out of life than what I currently have
I want a brand new house
I want to live in luxury
On an episode of Cribs
I want to show off my wealth to the world
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
I want extravagance down to the bathroom
And a king size tub big enough for ten plus me
And a bathtub big enough for me and all my friends
I'll need a credit card that's got no limit
I'll need unlimited funds to finance this lifestyle
And a big black jet with a bedroom in it
And a private jet with a luxurious bedroom
Gonna join the mile high club at thirty-seven thousand feet
I want to have sex on my private jet
I want a new tour bus full of old guitars
I want to have everything I need to live the rockstar life
My own star on Hollywood Boulevard
I want to achieve celebrity status
Somewhere between Cher and James Dean is fine for me
I want to be somewhere in the middle of famous and legendary
I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'm willing to give everything up for success and wealth
I'd even cut my hair and change my name
I'm willing to change everything about myself for fame
'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
We all want to achieve the dream of being a rockstar
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
And live the luxurious lifestyle that comes with success
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
And all the pleasures that come with fame are readily available
But I'll stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
But we'll sacrifice food in order to stay thin and attractive
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
We'll only hang out in exclusive, trendy places
In the VIP with the movie stars
And only associate with other celebrities
Every good gold digger's gonna wind up there
And we'll attract those who are only interested in our wealth and status
Every Playboy Bunny with her bleached blond hair
And those who fit the mold of a stereotypical attractive person
I wanna be great like Elvis without the tassels
I want to be as legendary and iconic as Elvis Presley
Hire eight body guards that love to beat up assholes
I want to have protection and a sense of power
Sign a couple autographs so I can eat my meals for free
I want to use my celebrity status to receive privileges and free things
I'm gonna dress my ass with the latest fashion
I want to have a sense of style and wear fashionable clothing
Get a front door key to the Playboy mansion
I want to be part of the exclusive circle of Hugh Hefner and his Playboy Bunnies
Gonna date a centerfold that loves to blow my money for me
And I want to date someone who fits that mold
And we'll hide out in the private rooms
We'll enjoy our success in secret, exclusive places
With the latest dictionary and today's who's who
And be up-to-date on all the latest trends and knowledge
They'll get you anything with that evil smile
We can get whatever we want because of our status and charm
Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial
And it's easy to access illegal substances because of our connections
I'm gonna sing those songs that offend the censors
I want to push boundaries and test the limits of what's acceptable
Gonna pop my pills from a pez dispenser
And I don't care about the health risks, I want to party and indulge
I'll get washed-up singers writing all my songs
I want to use my wealth and connections to have others do the work for me
Lip sync 'em every night so I don't wrong them get, uh, get them wrong
And I don't even have to put in the effort to sing them, I'll just lip sync
Contributed by Jackson A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.