Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll

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Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll is a song and single by Ian Dury, it was originally released on the 1977 Stiff Records single BUY 17 Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll / Razzle In My Pocket on August 26th. Contrary to popular belief the song was not recorded by Ian Dury & The Blockheads in fact only two members of the band appear on the record, the song's co-writer Chas Jankel and Saxophonist Davey Payne.

The song was written by Ian Dury and Chas Jankel in Dury's flat in Oval Mansions, London (nicknamed 'Catshit mansions' by Ian) that overlooked The Oval cricket-ground, there way of working was for Ian Dury to present Jankel with lyric sheets hand typed by the singer, according to Chas in Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll: The Life of Ian Dury he would be repeatedly given the lyric for Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll but Jankel kept rejecting the song only for it to be at the top of the pile again the next time only to be rejected again. Which went on until Dury sung the song's guitar riff to Chas and sung the song's title in time with it, sometime later Jankel heard Change Of The Century, a record by Ornette Coleman (that also included Charlie Haden and Don Cherry) and heard the exact same bass riff being played by Cherry.

The single did not chart, selling only around 19,000 copies (a small amount for a single in 1977) but won critical acclaim, a factor of this poor sales could be Stiff Record's singles deletion policy designed to promote initial sales and as such chart success, the original single was deleted after only two months.

Released as it was in the height of the Punk rock scandal the song was misinterpreted (as it is often is to this day) as a song about excess as it's title and chorus would suggest and was banned by the BBC, the meaning of the song itself is quite different than the 'punk anthem' it is perceived, Dury maintained that with the song he was trying to suggest that there was more to life than sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll or a 9-to-5 existence (such as in his track-by-track comments in the sleeve-notes of Repertoire Record's Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Best Of Ian Dury & The Blockheads compilation) the verses themselves are somewhat riddle-like at times though always suggesting an alternative lifestyle:

here's a little bit of advice, you're quite welcome it is free

don’t do nothing that is cut-price you'll know what they'll make you be

they will try their tricky device, trap you with the ordinary

get your teeth into a small slice of the cake of liberty

The phrase has since entered the English language, but also others as the German language. It employs the rhetorical figure of a triad or hendiatris to capture a certain lifestyle. ("Rock and roll" is here counted as one concept, which itself is a dyad or hendiadys referring to dance and sex; see Origins of rock and roll).

1 Re-releases and versions
- 1.1 Re-releases
- 1.2 Versions
2 Sources

[edit] Re-releases and versions

[edit] Re-releases

The song has become a staple on Punk Rock/New Wave and Ian Dury compilations but initially the song was not available in the abundance it is today, In keeping with Dury's own policy of not including his singles on his albums, the track was not included on his debut New Boots and Panties!!, though a 12" version of the single was released in France in November 1977, with both tracks from his next single Sweet Gene Vincent / You're More Than Fair replacing Razzle In My Pocket as the B-side, and again in December as a free give-a-way to guests at the NME's Christmas party that year (of which only 1,000 were pressed) this time Razzle In My Pocket was replaced by England's Glory and Two Stiff Steep Hills two tracks by recorded live by Ian Dury & The Kilburns, the final phase of Dury's pub-rock band Kilburn & The Highroads. Five hundred more copies of the NME's version of the single was re-pressed for a competition the magazine ran but following this it was not available until Juke Box Dury, an Ian Dury singles collection released in 1981 by Stiff Records, since then it has appeared on every Ian Dury compilation.

[edit] Versions

Stiff Records organised a joint tour for Nick Lowe, Ian Dury, Wreckless Eric, Larris Wallis and Elvis Costello, five of their biggest acts at the time with the intentions of having the bands alternating as the headlining act, Ian Dury and the newly formed Blockheads soon became the stars of the tour (it was surmised that Elvis Costello would be the main attraction having had chart success) and the nightly encore became Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll, a version can be heard on the Stiffs Live Stiffs LP released after the tour called Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll & Chaos which features numerous musicians from the tour.

Another live versions can be found on the Ian Dury & The Blockheads live album Straight From The Desk, though much of it is not the song but Ian Dury introducing the band and their respective solos, with only the first half of the song and a repetition of the title at the song's climax are included.

When Edsel Records re-released New Boots and Panties!! as part of a series of Ian Dury re-issues recording in Alvic Studios, London was included on the bonus disc included with the album, it features two later Blockheads members Norman Watt-Roy and Charley Charles.

[edit] Sources

Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll: The Life Of Ian Dury by Richard Balls, first published 2000, Omnibus Press
Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Song By Song by Jim Drury, first published 2003, Sanctuary Publishing.
Reasons To Be Cheerful 2-Disc Compilation first released 1996, Repertoire Records