Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3 – Ian Dury And The Blockheads (1979)

Description

Additional information about this, Ian Dury and the Blockheads vinyl art.

Ian Dury & The Blockheads – The Artist

Ian Robins Dury (1942 – 2000) was an English singer-songwriter and actor who rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and new wave era of rock music. He was the lead singer of Ian Dury and the Blockheads and before that of Kilburn and the High Roads. Dury’s lyrics are a combination of lyrical poetry, word play, observation of British everyday life, character sketches, and sexual humour.

Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3 – The Song

‘Reasons to be Cheerful, part 3‘is a song and single by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, initially released as the single “Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3 / Common as Muck” issued on 20 July 1979 and reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart the following month. It is the last single to be released by the band in their original line-up. The song has been described as a ‘shopping-list song’. It is a simple list of a number of reasons to be cheerful.

• Rock ‘n’ Roll singer Buddy Holly
• Little Richard’s 1956 hit “Good Golly Miss Molly”
• Hammersmith Palais, London
• The Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow, Russia
• British automobile company Scammell Lorries (specifically their 18-wheeler truck)
• Equal voting rights
• Piccadilly Circus, London
• Genitalia (‘Fanny Smith and Willy’)
• Oatmeal breakfast cereal
• Generosity and politeness
• Yellow socks
• Carrot juice
• Wine (specifically claret)
• Elvis (Presley) and Scotty (Moore), his guitarist
• Going to the toilet (‘sitting on the potty’)
• A cure for smallpox
• The National Health Service’s free prescription glasses
• Male and female prostitutes (‘Gigolos and Brasses’)
• Smoking a bong (lighting up the chalice)
• Skiffle singer Wee Willie Harris
• Steven Biko
• Jamaican trombonist Rico Rodriguez, who would go on to play with Coventry band The Specials the same year as “Reasons to be Cheerful”‘s release
• The Marx Brothers (‘Harpo, Groucho, Chico’)
• Popular British sandwich (‘Cheddar cheese and pickle’)
• British motorcycle manufacturer Vincent Motorcycles (pronounced ‘motorsickle’ to rhyme with pickle and tickle)
• Sex (‘slap and tickle’)
• American comedian Woody Allen
• Spanish painter Salvador Dalí
• Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich
• The elderly bachelor Don Pasquale in the opera of the same name by Gaetano Donizetti
• The popular song Volare
• Soul singer Smokey Robinson
• Being released from prison (‘Coming out of chokey’)
• Saying okey dokey
• Being naked (‘Being in my nuddy’)
• Saxophonist John Coltrane, specifically his soprano saxophone playing.
• Italian singer-songwriter Adriano Celentano
• 1940s and 1950s film actor Bonar Colleano
• Self-education (“something nice to study”)

Smiling Face – The Shape

This record has been modelled into a smiling face.

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