This is the story of how I got to meet Ian Dury and how this web
site came to be.
My name is Roger Harris and when
I was about 12, around 1977/1978, I used to sit next to a mate at school called
JB. He was always singing these really witty and amusing songs and going on
about how they were by a bloke called Ian Dury. On day I borrowed the album - NEW BOOTS AND PANTIES, and I became hooked on the fantastic
lyrics. I remember the first LP I ever bought was PARALLEL LINES by BLONDIE.
The second was ARMED FORCES by ELVIS COSTELLO but the third was NEW BOOTS AND PANTIES by IAN DURY. I remember my Mother saying
"I don't like the look of some of those song titles" - "You'd
like them even less, if you heard 'em!" I thought.
At school, around that time,
every pupil had to do a talk in morning assembly to the whole year. You only
had to do it once, but you also got to play a record as long as it was related
to your talk. I did a talk on "Whales" and how they were going to
become extinct because that gave me the excuse of convincing the teachers that
"What a Waste" by Ian Dury was somehow related. I got to play my
record of choice, my first public appreciation of Ian Dury's music.
Of course it was around this
time that "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" was released. I
remember hearing it on the radio for the first time ever and thinking what a
brilliant, catchy song it was. I was merely one of the many people that went
out and bought it. It got to number one in the Charts in January 1979 and I saw
Ian Dury on 'Top of the Pops' for the first time. In due course I bought DO IT YOURSELF and LAUGHTER when they were released as well. On its
release, I also bought the Greatest Hits LP, JUKE BOX DURY
which had on it all of Ian Dury's singles, (both A sides and B sides).
Gradually life moved on, and
aged 18 in 1984, I moved away from home and went to live and work in Worthing.
There, in a record shop I found 4000 WEEKS HOLIDAY
and bought it immediately. It was the first Ian Dury LP, I'd seen in ages and I
loved it. The release of
LORD UPMINSTER in 1981 seems to have passed me somehow,
as I missed that one. Anyway, it so happened that I found out that Ian Dury was
performing in Brighton later that year and so off I went to see him live for
the first time. Disappointingly, he wasn't with the Blockheads but with a group
called the Music Students, but "live" he was brilliant and I
thoroughly enjoyed the concert.
I even got to hear "Fuck
Off, Noddy" live - it is not available on record and I have never ever
heard it since. Over the years, vinyl faded out and everyone moved on to buying
CD's. I re-bought my four vinyl Ian Dury LP's as CD's and played them often.
Ian Dury and the Blockheads had
seemed to have faded away and now I only ever saw Ian Dury in the occasional
acting role. I remember being particularly pleasantly surprised in the cinema,
when he turned up in a scene in the Sylvester Stallone film "Judge
Dredd". Then around 1998/1999, Ian Dury came back into my life. A new
album was out, with the Blockheads, MR. LOVE PANTS
and, of course, I bought it - the first new one for me since buying 4000 WEEKS HOLIDAY back in 1984. It was brilliant.
I then heard that Ian Dury and
the Blockheads were coming to Hay-on-Wye, a small town on the Welsh border some
21 miles away from where I live. I bought a ticket to go and see them and this
time I had an idea. I was going to get Ian Dury to sign my original vinyl NEW BOOTS AND PANTIES or die in the attempt.
My wife is no great Ian Dury fan
and didn't want to go. I decided to go on my own as that would give me far
greater flexibility in trying to get Ian's autograph, rather than having to
consider somebody else. I got to Hay-on-Wye something like 6 hours early,
hoping to get his autograph when he was rehearsing or doing sound checks or
something. He was due to play in a large marquee. When I tried to get near, I
got turned away and after waiting for about 3 hours, I saw him arrive by car
only to be whisked away out of sight. Defeated for the time being I went to
queue for the concert. I had a book with me to read to pass the time and I sat
by the door to the concert as the very first person in the queue, being so
early. Over the next 3 hours about 500 or 600 people turned up, but I was
first. As soon as the doors opened I was straight down to the front row of
seats and sat right in the middle, under the centre microphone. The best seat
in the house.
It was a fantastic concert.
Everybody was seated but gradually people got up to dance and by the time of
the encores, everybody was up on their feet. Ian was carried on and off stage
and was obviously fairly ill at that time. It was the 1st June 1999. I remember
staring at Ian fascinated at his sung his witty lyrics. I was only about ten
feet away from him. The concert finished and I returned to my quest to get his
autograph.
I hung around for an hour or so
afterwards, whilst people drifted away. I had spoken to a couple of roadies and
minders, to see if I could somehow get backstage but nothing was doing. I heard
that Ian had a caravan at the back of the marquee although it was hidden from
view behind a large hedge. With about a half a dozen people, I hung around
nearby.
I asked some security bloke if
there was any chance of getting Ian Dury to sign my NEW BOOTS AND PANTIES LP and helpfully, he said he'd go and
see. When he returned he said, "As there is only half a dozen of you, Ian
will see you all in his caravan". I couldn't believe it! What a guy! What
other star would do that for his fans?
I was the second person of the six to go
into the caravan as I recall. I went down a path round the hedge and up into
Ian's caravan and there he was sitting down on a window seat on my left. It's
always great to meet a hero, but what do you say? "Hello, Mr. Dury, thanks
for seeing me, would you sign my New Boots and Panties album, please?"
"Yeah, sure" says Ian. Being 6 foot 2 inches, I was towering over the
seated Ian so I crouched down at his feet and gave him my album with the
classic main picture of Ian and his son Baxter outside the shop window, face up
for him to sign. He immediately turned it over and wrote on the back of it "Roger
nother day Ian Dury" (whatever that meant). I had particularly wanted him
to sign it on the front, so I said "Would you sign it on the front as
well, just 'Ian Dury'" and he dutifully obliged. I was thrilled. Sensitive
to the fact that there were other people for him to see, I knew it was time to
go. "Thanks for that, Mr. Dury" I said and turned to go, thrilled
that I had not only got my album signed but met the great man himself as well.
As I turned away, I released
that sitting opposite Ian were the rest of the Blockheads. Bizarrely (and no
doubt it appeared, rudely) I had not seen them there before, having focused all
my attention on Ian. I felt a bit of a twat having effectively ignored them
without even realising it.
I said something to the effect
of "Hi, Guys, I didn't see you there" and I then asked Chaz Jankel
and Norman Watt-Roy to sign the back of my NEW BOOTS AND PANTIES which they
did. I only asked them to sign it as they were the only two who had originally
both worked on the album, besides, I knew that my time was really up and I
didn't want to outstay my welcome. I got the feeling that the others were a bit
put out that I wasn't asking for their autographs, but although I would have
loved to have got their autographs, I would have wanted it to be on an album
they had worked on and I had only bought a copy of NEW BOOTS AND PANTIES with me. If only I could go back in time
and do it all again!
"Thanks for your
time", I said and left, clutching my signed album like I was holding the
Holy Grail.
It was in 1999 that I had just
started setting up a couple of web sites, purely as a hobby on various subjects
that interested me. I had bought the web domain name
"http://www.iandury.org.uk" and I put the story up of me meeting Ian
Dury and the Blockheads on that site, that being the only fairly good web
address I could buy at the time.
In March 2000, I heard with
great sadness of Ian's death. I had known that he had been battling cancer for
many years so it wasn't really a surprise.
So we move onto April 2004, still a
committed Ian Dury fan, I saw a repeat of the old BBC documentary, 'On My
Life', originally screened back on 25th September 1999. As I watched it, it
rekindled all the old passion for Ian Dury and the Blockheads that I have had
over the years. My original Ian Dury web site had long since expired and I
immediately regretted it and went to find out what other Ian Dury web site
names were available. Imagine my surprise at finding that I could buy
"http://www.iandury.com" - surely the best possible 'Ian Dury' web
site name!
I immediately bought it and set
out to attempt to make the best fan web site for Ian Dury on the net. Whether
it is or isn't will be for other fans to decide. I immediately bought all the
Ian Dury albums I had missed over the years and put in many hours work,
listening to them and typing up lyrics and creating these web pages. There is
nothing in this for me, financially, I hasten to add. I don't sell advertising
or make any money from having a web site online. I just wanted to have a place
where an Ian Dury fan could go and remember the great man, the great songs and
see the great lyrics, not forgetting the fantastic musicians who backed him and
wrote all the music for his songs.
It is only when you actually read
Ian Dury's lyrics that you really appreciate how clever they are!
I launched this web site on 12th
May 2004 as that would have been Ian Dury's 62nd birthday.
Thanks for all the great lyrics, Ian, this site is dedicated to
your memory.
Roger Harris, 12th May 2004