Why Ian Dury is a reason to be cheerful

unlikely cover boy in the pop magazines.

Not only had childhood polio left him with significant disabilities, he wasn’t exactly a pitchperfect singer in the classic mould. But he was a compelling frontman and brilliant songwriter, though his lyrics owed at least as much to the bawdy genre of English music hall as it did to traditional rock’n’roll.

Starring Andy Serkis in the lead role, this dramatisation of Dury’s life moved from his early illness through his art school days to the long struggle for musical success.

That he could be an irascible and unreasonable man is clear, even when fame and fortune came calling. Nothing new there, I suppose.

The best thing about this film is that it provides the ideal excuse for another listen to New Boots and Panties!!, the almost perfect album he released the year before pop stardom beckoned.

From the opening bars of Wake Up and Make Love with Me to the closing strains of Billericay Dickie, the first side of the original LP is close to masterpiece status.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I am off to dig it out again…

Wordsmith: Andy Serkis as singer Ian Dury GOD, I feel old. I’m finding it difficult to believe that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, the song that turned the late Ian Dury into a star.It was one of the great records of the Seventies, and even now I can still see the original video for it in my mind’s eye and it was followed up closely by Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3.Dury, who wasn’t far off his 37th birthday when the song topped the charts, was an