The ONLY possible reason I can understand is that it has since become a bit of a standard, and therefore is ripe for a backlash of ennui and boredom… but on its own merits? Its a Ten.

COE doesn’t have any lyrics, of course, it’s all an urban myth…

66, thanks for taking the time to type these out Billy. DB always entertaining, and usually pretty much OTM, at this point

I’m a little bit ashamed of remembering that…

‘Come On Eileen’ is good enough to give them another number one record. It’s spry and merry cobbled together from fine plucked mandolins, sawn fiddles and tack piano and still retains that ‘Geno’-style northern soul refrain for the chorus. Actually, recommended though it is, I don’t know if I like it too much. Their past dealings tinge all their work with a through thought worthiness that I don’t care for in records, and the gypsy feeling to the package makes me think that they’ve been digging into early ’70s Van Morrisson chic a little too studiously. But I hate tooing and froing. So lets leave it that here is the liveliest and freshest sound on British 45 this week. Folky rather than funky. Why does that last sentence worry me?

Also reviewed;

Paul McCartney – Take It Away
Culture Club – I’m Afraid Of Me
Imagination – Music & Lights
Bananarama – Shy Boy
Donna Summer – Love Is In Control
Hayzi Fantayzee – John Wayne Is Big Leggy
Chas & Dave – Margate

*Yeah, OK, it was some ‘new drug’ being taken, but still…

Can never hear this song without recalling losing my job at the time when the office was raided by the Federal Police.

Re 58: I love that episode of Spaced! It features quite possibly the best representation of the ecstasy experience ever seen on British TV.

As for COE, Tom’s superb essay is almost enough to change my mind about it. Alas, I just think some records lose their lustre through over-exposure. Dancing Queen is another and there are many more examples that are still under bunny-embargo. I loved Come On Eileen at the time, cheered it up the charts and Dexys Mk Two still has to be one of British pop’s most stunning reinventions. But I’d still much rather listen to Let’s Make This Precious or Let’s Get This Straight than this.

Lex at 4 – “The kind of song which stumbles drunkenly over to you and yells “why aren’t you HAVING FUN?” ” – reminded me of COE’s appearance in an episode of Spaced: Brian the socially inept artist is having a dream flashback to 1983 and some horrible 6th form or student disco, everyone dressed in Dexys dungarees and dancing to the build-and-release finale, singing along, getting more and more excited, only Brian standing stock still, wanting to join in but not knowing how to, until the music builds to such a pitch that he finally flails one arm and spills the pint of the meathead next to him. They look at each other; Brian gets punched in the face, wakes up, groans.

Later in the episode, in the present day (early 90s?) brian is dragged to a club night, and the same thing happens: the housey techno build-and-release finally gets him moving and he spills the (same) meathead’s pint. They look at each other; only because this is the loved up 90s and everyone’s on one, the meathead hugs him and they carry on dancing….

This clearly says more about youth culture than any other 1/2 hour brit sitcom ever. One of the things it suggests is COE as an ancestor to almost every house track (though personally I think that house music slow build-and-release thing was invented by the Mekons’ ‘Where Were You?’ in 78).

If I may try to add some additional bits of context:

Re #41: “The problem, I think, is that COE sets out so desperately to be loved by all and sundry” – It seems to me that this comment underlines how hard it is to think about “Come On Eileen” NOW without be tainted by the knowledge of what it has BECOME. I don’t think ANY song with lyrics like “These people round here wear beaten-down eyes sunk in smoke-dried faces, they’re so resigned to what their fates is.” is taking the ‘easy route to pop success’. Like many other Dexys songs, it IS actually quite a challenging listen – except unlike many other Dexys songs it has 27 years of over-exposure and wedding discos to help us forget that!

Another aspect which is hard to remember now is that a group playing acoustic instruments and wearing scruffy clothes was not an ‘obvious formula for success’ at the height of the synth-drenched, New-Romantic styled early-80s. As somebody else observed “Come On Eileen” was the follow-up to the similarly fiddle-fueled, folk-flavoured “Celtic Soul Brothers” single which had just sunk without a trace. What I’m trying to say here is that it’s easy with hindsight to say that “Come On Eileen” was a sure-fire hit – because it ended up being such a BIG hit!

A couple of points about the intro – the boom-ba-boom bass line was another musical reference to bygone years as it consciously borrowed the rhythm from Unit 4 + 2’s “Concrete And Clay” (which Rowland later covered) and the version with the additional fiddle intro can be found on U.S. reissues of “Too-Rye-Ay”.

One more contextual aspect I can’t let go unmentioned in a conversation about “Come On Eileen” (especially at the moment) – the inspiration behind Rowland’s folk-flavoured sound (and even the break-down and build up section of “Come On Eileen”) was later revealed as having been Dexys co-founder Kevin ‘Al’ Archer. As Rowland stated in 1993 “After Searching For The Young Soul Rebels, when he left we were both experimenting with strings. I wasn’t getting what I wanted; he found it and I stole it… As a result he disbanded his group. Dexys had taken his sound and succeeded with it.” The great news on this particular score is that Archer’s group, the Blue Ox Babes, which did indeed provide the blue-print for the Come On Eileen sound AND visual image will finally have their long-lost 80s album released on Cherry Red Records on May 18th!!!

The song is certainly one where the lyrics are mostly incomprehensible, but people adore the song anyway. I knew the song started off “Poor old Johnnie Ray” but neither knew nor particularly cared why he was mentioned and what the next lines were. Now that I know, however, it enchances my enjoyment; “broke a million hearts in mono” is a great line.

Johnnie Ray is also mentioned in the opening couplet of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” These two songs have saved him from oblivion more than any of his own songs, none of which I could name.