Cammell Laird Social Club

Cammell Laird Social Club
Studio album by Half Man Half Biscuit
Released	23 September 2002
Genre	Rock
Label	Probe Plus
Producer	Mark Walker (engineer)
Half Man Half Biscuit chronology
Editor's Recommendation (2001) Cammell Laird Social Club (2002) Achtung Bono (2005)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Cammell Laird Social Club is the ninth album released by UK rock band Half Man Half Biscuit, in 2002.^[1][2]

Cammell Laird Social Club is a working men's club in Rock Ferry, just outside the band's native Birkenhead. The title is a play on the title of the film and album Buena Vista Social Club about various Cuban musicians which was a 1999 project by Ry Cooder; that album is referenced in the first track. Cammell Laird is the name of the company that owned the large shipyard in the band's native Birkenhead.

Musically, there is more country influence than on previous albums. The record also features two spoken-word pieces.

Track listing

1. "The Light at the End of the Tunnel (Is the Light of an Oncoming Train)"
2. "When the Evening Sun Goes Down"
3. "San Antonio Foam Party"
4. "Them's the Vagaries"
5. "If I Had Possession Over Pancake Day"
6. "The Referee's Alphabet"
7. "She's in Broadstairs"
8. "Tyrolean Knockabout"
9. "Breaking News"
10. "27 Yards of Dental Floss"
11. "Paradise Lost (You're the Reason Why)"
12. "Thy Damnation Slumbereth Not"
13. "Stavanger Töestub"

Cultural references in song titles and lyrics

• 1. The title is a near-quotation from the poem "Since 1939" by the American poet Robert Lowell: "If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it's the light of an oncoming train".^[3][4]
• 5. The title is inspired by the song "If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day" by the blues musician Robert Johnson.
• 6. The track contains a great number of football references, including references to the 'technical area', Zinedine Zidane, and the fact that cricket umpires are not subject to abuse along the lines of "Who's the bastard in the hat?"
• 7. The title is based on "She's in Parties" by Bauhaus (1983). Broadstairs is a quaint seaside resort near Ramsgate in Kent.
• 8. Tyrol is a region of Austria.
• 11. Paradise Lost is an epic poem by John Milton, published 1667.
• 12. The title is a quotation from Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles;^[5] which is itself an adaptation of the Second Epistle of Peter at 2:3: "Their damnation slumbereth not".
• 12. The lyrics quote from a translation of Richard Wagner's 1849 essay "Art and Revolution".
• 13. Stavanger is the fourth largest city in Norway.

References

External links

• Cammell Laird Social Club at the longest-established Half Man Half Biscuit fan site
• Cammell Laird Social Club at the Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project