Lyr Req: There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastard

Subject: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: Fidjit
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 04:29 AM

Just been watching a documentry about Leanardo DI Vinchi, and this was the theme song in the background.

Anyone?

Chas

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: Alec
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 04:41 AM

The song is by Ian Dury.

Subject: Lyr Add: THERE AIN'T HALF BEEN SOME CLEVER BASTARD
From: GUEST,Bainbo
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 04:42 AM

The late, great Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Saw them once, back in the mid-70s. What a showman! Off the top of my head:

"Noel Coward was a charmer
As a writer he was brahma
velvet jacket and pyjamas
The Gay Divorce and other dramas

Van Gogh did some eyeball-pleasers
He must have been a pencil-squeezer
He didn't do the Mona Lisa -
That was an Italian geezer

Einstein can't get classed as witless
He claimed atoms were the littlest
When he did a bit of splittingness
Frightened everybody shitless

CHORUS:
(four times)
There ain't half been some clever bastards (lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: GUEST,Bainbo
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 04:49 AM

Oh yeah. And I forgot the little coda near the end:

"There ain't half been some clever bastards
Probably had help from their mum, who had hekp from her mum.
There ain't half been some clever bastards -
Now that we've had had some, let's hope that there's lots more to come."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: GUEST,Gadaffi
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 05:02 AM

Oh! Segovia!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: Scrump
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 06:03 AM

What album was that on? I might have it at home but I haven't played any of Ian Dury's stuff lately.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: GUEST,Bainbo
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 06:09 AM

I don't think it was ever on an album, Scrump, unless there's been a Greatest Hits compilation. I think there was kind of idealogical decision - either by Ian or Stiff Records, I can't remember - that you were cheating people by taking singles from albums, because they ended up buying the same song twice. So Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll was never on an album, either.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: Scrump
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 06:15 AM

By 'eck, you're right, GUEST,Bainbo. Thanks for that.

I just checked the 2 albums I have (New Boots & Panties and Do it Yourself, I think they were his 1st 2 albums and the only ones of his I bought). I thought I remembered Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll being on one of them, but I was wrong. I don't remember the other songs above though, it sounds good.

(I must have S&D&R&R on a compilation or something, I'm sure I have it somewhere...)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: Alec
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 06:25 AM

Shocking fact:Neither Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll nor There ain't 'arf Been Some Clever Bastards charted in the U.K.
Weird fact:Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll,is the perfect song to sing while doing a bit of Ironing.Try it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: Scrump
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 06:32 AM

What, try ironing? Er... I think I'd rather listen to something else, thanks :-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: Fidjit
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 10:14 AM

Thank's lads I knew you'd come up trumps.

Now Who thinks he is, but isn't, a clever bastard on mudcat?

(Another bag of worms
Chas

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: GUEST,Elfcall
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 10:55 AM

Sex & Drugs & Rock n Roll was included on a special edition of NB&P which was released on gold vinyl. I could have sworn blind that Clever Bastards was on NB&P - but a quick google says not- the memory is getting a bit blurred now

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 03 Feb 07 - 03:33 PM

Allmusic.com lists these albums that contain THERE AIN'T HALF BEEN SOME CLEVER BASTARDS:

Jukebox Dury - 1981
Warts 'n' Audience - 1991
Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll: The Best of Ian Dury and the Blockheads - 1992
Best of Ian Dury - 1998
Do It Yourself [Bonus Tracks] - 1998
Very Best of Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Reasons to be Cheerful - 1999
Live! All the Best, Mate - 2000
Essex Boy: An Introduction to Ian Dury - 2006

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: Bainbo
Date: 03 Feb 07 - 03:50 PM

Ah! that'll teach me to keep up with this new-fangled disc technology thing. It certainly wasn't on any of the original scratchy vinyl albums.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 03 Feb 07 - 03:56 PM

I seem to recall, from my shameful disc-jockey days, that 'There Ain't half been.....etc was on the B-side of the single 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick'.

DGR
Your Funky Deejay

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: Bainbo
Date: 03 Feb 07 - 04:02 PM

That's it, funky Dave! You're right. That's where I came across it. It had a jazzy looking cover, full of pastel dots and blocks, that if you squinted at it from a certain angle looked as if it might have been a toy dog. Or had I been on the Boddington's loopy juice?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ain't arf be some clever bastards
From: Fidjit
Date: 03 Feb 07 - 04:05 PM

That's what I like about this forum. You get the goods. Thanks Jim.

well researched.

Chas