Right Said Fred were a rum proposition – solid light entertainment values in leather pants, with the mildest dash of sauce added. Jobbing musicians, no great shakes as singers but likeable chaps, so people gave them the benefit of the doubt and let them sweat a novelty hit into two or three years of genuine fame. The Fairbrass brothers were everywhere for a while – the NME embraced them, Smash Hits lapped them up, the red-tops loved the silliness, the public seemed to enjoy the tunes, they bagged an Ivor Novello or two. Right Said Fred enjoyed a remarkable level of goodwill, which didn’t really fade until their second album came out and people realised there actually wasn’t room in their life for Black Lace with an extra member and half the hair.
But that was winter ’93, a world away from summer ’91 – particularly if you peddled the kind of family-fun pop “the Freds” did. Their comeback coincided with Matthew Banister’s arrival at Radio 1 – the moment the station stopped chasing reach and started pursuing influence – and Right Said Fred feel like the end of something: a band built for Radio 1 Roadshows in seaside towns, the kind of group Smashie and Nicey would love.
Does that make them awful? Not inevitably – though the line between dreadfully British and Britishly dreadful is a thin one. “Deeply Dippy”‘s problem isn’t being a silly, happy pop song. It’s never hitting the kind of swing its structure needs it to – that big brassy climax ought to be a joyful communal lift-off but even the group don’t sound like they’re having much fun as they try to gee the rest of us up. Fairbrass’ “See those legs, man.” is perhaps the least excited ad lib ever recorded. Like Shakespears Sister, there’s a feeling of a band playing with dynamics, trying to do something a bit different with their three minutes – and that’s admirable, but Right Said Fred can’t pull it off. “Deeply Dippy” ends up sounding more like forced jollity than good clean fun.
Score: 4
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The instrumental break (chorus?) of this song simply makes me feel happy – whether it’s actually good or not doesn’t really matter. Peter Kay has exploited this by using it as his intro music. So I’ll give it a 7 based on general goodwill, something I wouldn’t do for I’m Too Sexy
I heard this on the radio a while back and was surprised how insubstantial it was – almost like a demo. Its combination of swinging rhythm and acoustic guitars reminds me a little of Fairground Attraction but not taking itself so seriously.
I quite like it but I can’t imagine wanting to listen to an entire album of RSF so anyone who got burned by their second album was asking for trouble.
It’s neither bad nor good. It’s a hummable, inoffensive tune that wouldn’t make me change the station if it came on, but far from being anyone’s idea of a life-chaging music experience.
It also highlights how much being #1 is down to context rather than merit. After all, I’d bet a lot of the people who sent this to the top of the chart would be the ones who still remember “I’m Too Sexy” way better than this – in fact, I’d wager a lot of people ONLY remember “I’m Too Sexy” when it comes to RSF.
I remember loathing Right Said Fred even at the time. Exactly the kind of “saucy” but actually completely inoffensive light comedy that Britain specialises in, that always signified a fear of sex and prudishness to me. Just incredibly stupid.
I’m fairly sure that the other member of my first band had Deeply Dippy on cassingle, and we both decided that “I’m Too Sexy” would be more suitable for live performance/adaptation (“I’m too sexy for my pants, too sexy for pants, because they’re full of ants… I’m too sexy for McDonalds, too sexy for McDonalds, because we’re not called Ronald” etc).
I’m Too Sexy must’ve sold a lot more, but it was held at number two by the Bryan Adams Event. I think it may have been the second best seling single of 91. Anyone able to check that?
#6 Dunno where it ranked but I definitely heard it said that this was a ‘deserved’ #1 because ITS had been held off. Another reason for goodwill no doubt.
I don’t think you can accuse them of having had a fear of sex – they gave some pretty filthy interviews IIRC correctly, although their mainstream audience probably did. Dodgy record nevertheless.
In solidarity with the protestors in Greece (and in Britain), I have decided to comment on this record in Greek:
Η σκέψη για το σωστό εν λόγω Fred φέρνει πάντα για να απασχοληθούν τέτοιες λέξεις όπως την κομψότητα, την επιείκεια και το καλό χιούμορ. Το γεγονός ότι στην αιχμή της επιτυχίας τους το τρίο όλα ωθούσε λίγο πολύ σαράντα πηγαίνει κάποιος τρόπος προς την εξήγηση αυτού, δεδομένου ότι στο τρίο μεγάλων επιτυχιών τους τίθεμαι στο μυαλό μιας cabaret πράξης περιοδικών, να συνωμοτήσει κλείνει το μάτι μέσα με το αμοιβαίο ακροατήριό του αλλά ποτέ να επιτρέψει το patronisation ή το σαρκασμό. Θα επιθυμούσα να προτείνω έναν παράλληλο με Kiki και το χορτάρι, αλλά μέχρι εκείνο το ιδιαίτερο duo deign για να απελευθερώσω οποιες δήποτε από τη μουσική τους στη Μεγάλη Βρετανία έτσι ώστε μπορώ πραγματικά να το ακούσω, δεν μπορώ το αρκέστε για να πείτε ότι θα μπορούσαν να χρησιμεύσουν ως οι ευσυνείδητοι θείοι Rufus Wainwright. Δεν μπορώ να σκεφτώ οποιαδήποτε άλληδήποτε πράξη που δεν θα είχε συρει την ευγένεια «εγώ είναι πάρα πολύ προκλητική» κάτω στο άξεστο καρφί, και ο Bryan Adams τους εξαπάτησε βεβαίως από την κατοχή ενός από τους μεγάλους αριθμού δεν είστε ποτέ μη ενήμεροι ότι ο πρωταγωνιστής του τραγουδιού γνωρίζει πλήρως το vainness της ματαιοδοξίας του, και επιπλέον Richard Fairbrass τείνει να καγχάσει μαζί με τον («τινάξτε το λίγο touche μου») παρά σε τον. Η συνέχιση, «δεν μιλά, να φιλήσει ακριβώς,» κορυφή τρία κατά τη διάρκεια των Χριστουγέννων 1991 – πώς Freddie θα είχε απολαύσει τη «Βοημίας ραψωδία» όντας επάνω από αυτήν και «δικαιολογημένος και αρχαίος» – ήταν ανώτερα σπίτι-NRG και βεβαίως η περισσότερη διασκέδαση Jocelyn Brown είχε πάντα σε ένα στούντιο («Ooh ναι, υπάρχουν άνθρωποι, υπάρχει αγάπη/εσείς και εγώ και οι δύο ισχύουν για τα ανωτέρω»). «Βαθειά Dippy» έχει έναν θαυμάσιο αέρα του ανόητου suavity για την unhurried, αξιαγάπητη λαγνεία του. Το Fairbrass ρίχνει φωνητικό του σε έναν εμπιστευτικό τόνο, σαν μοιραμένος ένα gigglingly προκλητικό μυστικό με άλλο του (δηλ. ο ακροατής), και να σκοντάψει του αρχείου, ηλιόλουστος βηματισμός με υποβάλλει πάρα πολύ μυαλό, όχι μόνο «του ονειροπόλησης» από την κουταλιά Lovin (η ζώνη αναγνώρισε σύντομα την επιρροή και κάλυψε το τραγούδι) αλλά και Donovan αραιοπλεγμένου, η ημι-αυτοσχεδιασμένη σειρά της δεκαετίας του ’60 σκάει τα χτυπήματα («βαθειά dippy, είμαι ο υπεράνθρωπός σας» πράγματι), και μπορείτε να πείτε ότι η ομάδα σημαντικά που εκτελούν το. Rob η κιθάρα μολύβδου Manzali είναι ιδιαίτερα εφευρετική όποτε Fairbrass δηλώνει «θέστε το πανί για τις θάλασσες του πάθους τώρα,» Manzali αφήνει την κλίση κιθάρων του στα περιβαλλοντικά, ασυνάρτητα ECM σύννεφα προτού να τραβεί η ζώνη ξαφνικά μαζί και να εισαγάγει ένα λεπτό και ταλαντεμένος τμήμα ορείχαλκου (Fairbrass «εντάξει» εδώ που ηχεί παρόμοια με Jarvis «εντάξει» «ταξινομημένος για τη ES και σφυρίζει») το τραγούδι κηρώνει έπειτα και εξασθενίζει όπως, καλά, οι εραστές («να έρθει σε επαφή με τον αθλητισμό; Αφήστε τη συζήτηση γειτόνων!» προφέρει Fairbrass σε ένα impeccable ξοντρό παπούτση εγχώριων κομητειών) και τη ροή λέξεων εύκολα με τα ρεύματα ήπια πειράγματος της μουσικής («οροσειρά χαμόγελο/πόδια που συνεχίζεται για τα μίλια και τα μίλια»). Τελικά η ομάδα το καλεί μια ημέρα και Fairbrass μουρμουρίζει έναν μετασυνουσιαστικό «εγώ είναι takin ένα πεζοπορώ στην Ταϊτή» – πιθανώς στις βαθύτερες και επιμηκυμένες θάλασσες πανιών ακόμα του πάθους. Ένας από πιό αμέσως το συμπαθητικό, και μακροπρόθεσμα επίσης ένα από να καταστήσει προσφιλής, αυτοί αριθμού εποχής του. Μην αφήστε τους ρωσικούς όχλους να σας αλέσουν κάτω, σκασίματα.
If anything, RSF could have been poised to be something of a Culture Club for the 90’s, what with Richard & Fred Fairbrass’s “polite” filtering of gay culture, and ultimately of Richard’s own publicly-and-early-assumed bissexuality, as a mirror to Boy George’s own way of presenting his homossexuality. But then how much of a career can you have when your whole act is based on novelty music – unlike Culture Club?
For some reason, RSF — which I would expect to detest lex-style, and for much his reasons — I quite admire: there’s a kind of inexplicable minimalist deftness to it, taking (presumably) an absurd thing someone said in conversation, that made everyone laugh, and getting everything out of it you can.
I expect to be despised for this opinion, but there it is.
Hurrah, the greek for “gigglingly” is actually “gigglingly”!
If I’m Too Sexy hjad got to number one, that would have been a 10, especially in relation to this one’s four.
#9
When are you going to post your comment in Greek?
I expect this will get a kicking in the comments – it’s already received a mild one from some quarters – but I actually think this is alright. Verging on decent even.
I’d agree it is decidedly British but not, for me, in the end of the pier sense. It’s got an understated tone rather than a “I’ll take you to the highest mountain and love you to the end of time” set of histrionics, which is well teed up by the fact that it plays to Richard Fairbrass’ limitations as a singer. It actually strikes me as if Hugh Grant could sing this in a Richard Curtis film and it wouldn’t be out of place. This, for some, I’d imagine is a bad thing – but it works for me.
It just doesn’t seem to be trying too hard and that, I think, is the charm. Wouldn’t go overboard but it would be better than a 4 – maybe a 6?
#9: It’s interesting to see how different translation engines cope with that. Babelfish is terrible – Google Translate actually provides something which helps me understand the gist of it. I wonder if there is anything better out there? Answers on a postcard, etc.
I can safely say that a solid half of Richard Fairbrass’s bisexuality passed me by!
#14: Please get into the spirit of the thing and refrain from ad hominem attacks. This isn’t ILx.
The reason it can’t reach the climax that the brass section deserves is because of the vocals which are the most timid vocals ever. 2
TOTPWatch: Right Said Fred performed ‘Deeply Dippy’ on Top of the Pops on four occasions. Details of the Christmas edition shall be provided anon;
9 April 1992. Also in the studio that week were; Praga Khan, Curtis Stigers, Altern 8, Vanessa Williams, Cher and Genesis. Tony Dortie & Femi Oke were the hosts.
16 April 1992. Also in the studio that week were; Swing Out Sister, SL2, Michael Ball, Ten Sharp, The Brand New Heavies featuring N’dea Davenport and Kylie Minogue. Adrian Rose & Claudia Simon were the hosts.
30 April 1992. Also in the studio that week were; Marc Almond, SL2 and Sisters Of Mercy & Ofra Haza (yes!), plus a live performance by satellite from En Vogue in Los Angeles. Tony Dortie & Claudia Simon were the hosts.
Light Entertainment Watch: Right Said Fred’s UK TV appearances include;
THE BRITS: with Richard O’Brien, Shakespears Sister, Right Said Fred, Annie Lennox, Tasmin Archer, Genesis, The Cure, Erasure, Simply Red (1993)
THE HYPNOTIC WORLD OF PAUL MCKENNA: with Right Said Fred, Ruby Buchanan (1993)
NIGHT FEVER: with Right Said Fred (2001)
THE O ZONE: with Right Said Fred (1993)
THE SMASH HITS POLL WINNERS PARTY: with Marky Mark, Simon Mayo, Gloria Estefan, Jordan Knight, Take That, Kriss Kross, The Farm, Kylie Minogue, Right Said Fred, East 17 (1992)
WOGAN: with Anthony Hopkins, Sunnie & Jackie Mann, Right Said Fred (1992)
THE WORD: with Barbara Windsor, Right Said Fred, Done E, The Farm (1991)
THE WORD: with Barry White, Right Said Fred, Demi Moore, Sean Penn (1992)
my abiding memory of deeply dippy is peel playing it between bands on the final day of the reading festival that year. for a brief moment in a dismal day (weather wise, the bill was rather excellent if inclining towards the dour) the clouds cleared, the sun shone and there was a joyful mass sing-along. which would fit with the idea of remarkable levels of goodwill.
i still sort of approve of right said fred in principle, and like how their line-up of ‘hunky’ brothers plus odd poodled ken bloke made them a kind of bizzarro-world bros, but sadly deeply dippy does now sound a lot limper than you’d hope.
#17
My profound apologies, I didn’t mean to strike you so deeply. Call it the translator’s Achilles heel.
It’s a consolation #1 isn’t it? “I’m Too Sexy” has become Novelty Canon and “Deeply Dippy” has somehow, not. The charm is there, but I wanted it to pick up and turn into something a bit more bizarre. Didn’t we want the dippiness to be a little deeper? More than a polite singalong? Well I did.
#6. I’m Too Sexy was the no.4 selling single of 1991. Seemed incredible at the time that a song that never made no.1 would be so high in the year end listing. Yet whaddyaknow fact fans, in 2010 the year’s top seller in the UK didn’t make number 1 in the weekly chart!
I always preferred The Rockingbirds’ cover version of “Deeply Dippy”, personally – it gave it a looser, more organic twang which suited the lyrics far better, and as part of the Terrence Higgins EP briefly showed up in the Top Forty in 1992.
I’ve frequently heard it said that the success of Right Said Fred was the best evidence you could ask for that pop music was completely on its arse by 1991. It seemed like a Richard O’Brien joke taken much, much too far for some people. I personally always regarded them with affection, and to an extent still do, but would never bother to listen to them out of choice. All of their songs seem too slight to stand up to tons of repeated listens, and although the minimalism of “I’m Too Sexy” was partly its strength, by this single their lack of chops were beginning to become apparent. You get the impression that they really were trying hard to do something different and much bolder and brassier with this one, but just lacked the vision to see it through.
Still, it’s a not entirely unlikable piece of work, and actually I think the fact that this tries to approach pop in a rather more sophisticated way allowed some goodwill to seep through as well. Suddenly, a band who had produced two sparse novelty records were seen to be doing something slightly unexpected.
Last time I checked, they were still big in Lithuania and had a song in their national Top 40. Just goes to show. Although I’m not sure what it shows…
Two memories of this:
-running across the common room to the gang gathered around the quiz machine yelling “DIPPY! DIPPY!” on seeing the question “Right Said Fred’s number one single was Deeply _”
-coming across it on one of those “THE BEST NUMBER ONES EVER” packages and being somewhat bemused that this was RSF – it sounds so, dare I say it, indie. 5 or 6 I reckon, I quite enjoy it.
The half-heartedness goes as far as the single cover. It looks like a group of mates bundling into a photo booth together not realising the first shot had been taken.
RSF second release was in fact “Don’t talk – just kiss” – would you rather that have got to No. 1?
I would go along with the score but I wouldn’t accuse it of lacking in effort. There are at least 3 strong hooks on there but it was just a bit too pert for it’s own good.
I enjoy the plummy pronunciation of CON-TACT SPORT mind.
#28, was just going to say “Don’t talk just kiss” seemed to suggest they might have more than the one novelty hit after all. “Deeply Dippy” was the recipient of what I’ve previously mentioned: getting sales (or not) based on how good your previous hit was.
(my theory started with CultClub’s “War Song” which was pretty bad but made top 10, whereas “The Medal Song” which was pretty good got the backlash and much fewer sales)
aaaaaANyway, “Stick it out” was pretty awful, but it was for chadiree, and had Bernard Cribbens on it to close the circle (He recorded the original song “Right Said Fred” plz keep up)..
And later on, “Bumped” came out, was even worse but Richard Fairbrass thought it brilliant for some reason, one performance had him yell “IT’S BETTER THAN STICK IT OUT INNIT???” at which point the audience coughed and looked away,….
This made no impact in the US. In fact, “Don’t Talk Just Kiss” barely made impact in the US (#76) despite “I’m Too Sexy” reaching #1. As a result, I never heard this until now and I’ve gotta say I’m disappointed. Whatever one’s opinion of ITS, at least it was memorable. DD just strikes me (on first listen admittedly) as too low-key and dull for a #1. 3 from me.
Very much less irritating than it might reasonably have expected to have been, or indeed sounded on first listening. Yes, an end-of-the-pier number that’s almost a bit of a grower. Certainly it has aged better than any of their other numbers…surely? I think the way the song builds and builds (and the instrumentation builds with it, and then gives way to brassy paradise before collapsing exhausted on the sofa) is probably its salvation. And definitely best not to watch the video, eh.
But, yeh, it’s limitations are obvious. A bit of good fun, though, innit? 4 or 5 out of 10 seems about fair to me. Anyrate, it’s less hateable that it really should be.
“RSF second release was in fact “Don’t talk – just kiss” – would you rather that have got to No. 1?”
Yes! It was 100x better than Dippy. (makes mental note to look for Terence Higgins Fred EP tonight)
“I don’t think you can accuse them of having had a fear of sex – they gave some pretty filthy interviews IIR correctly, although their mainstream audience probably did.”
The first gig on their Australian tour schedule in summer ’92 was an afternoon slot at a theme park, to what one could expect would be an audience of mums and under-10s. This had evidently not been communicated to the band until Kenbloke was doing a pre-tour interview with a Sydney street press: “Blimey, I’d better warn Richard. He usually opens the show by asking ‘Are there any hairy-arsed dockers here looking for a good time?’”
I’m quite surprised to find myself doing this, but I think I’d like to defend Right Said Fred. The reason that they stuck around for a couple of years is that they genuinely had some well-crafted (if not exactly brilliant) pop songs that struck a chord with the public, and they seemed to appear from nowhere without the guiding hand of SAW or any other faceless producers. Literally ‘indie pop’, if you will. And while they weren’t exactly original, there was nobody else who looked or sounded like them.
Part of this is perhaps that “Radio 1 roadshows in seaside towns” actually sounds ok from where I’m sitting (erm, an office in Beijing). I have happy memories of holidays in Butlins at Minehead and Pwllheli, and while wallowing in nostagia doesn’t make for sound judgement, I do have a feeling that the current blanket dismissal of the naffness of popular entertainment in this era is due for reappraisal at some point. Could be a while though.
Interesting that this pops up just as Summer Holiday gets fresh comments – it’s very Cliff and the Shads isn’t it?
The Englishness and embarrassment in Richard Fairbrass’s delivery reminds me of Slade’s Coz I Luv You, in that they’d never have called it Because I Love You. Scared of big open statements, the English.
The Rockingbirds’ version made it onto TOTP. They didn’t use the “see those legs, man” line.
I’ll join the ranks of ‘shoot me down if you will’s and argue that this is a fine – not a great – but a fine pop record. Hated I’m Too Sexy, hated the Radio One Roadshow culture… but I just see this as a catchy, throwaway single that hits a certain spot.
I have a soft spot for the song as we used to play it in ‘Brian Cant and the Flaps’, the worst covers band in SE Essex, if not the world.
I saw that they are doing a “conversations and music” type tour at the moment. Thesedays they can’t run to a full band, so they hand out kazoos (or sell them as merch, who knows…) so people can do the big band bit on this one.
#36 Did Brian C and the Fs ever play Bar Riga in Westcliff? Every other worst covers band in SE Essex has…
(Just savouring my final few months in SE Essex right now…)
Another Fred defender here. I’d say that their first three singles were as good an opening salvo as there was in the 90s. I even bought the Up album and remember it as being, well, pretty decent mainstream pop.
Of course, it was all downhill from there, but for a while they were an enjoyable consensus pop band, regarded with affection by tots, techno fans and pensioners alike.
The Freds were fun, witty and good to have around. I was definitely a fan of “Don’t Talk, Just Kiss” too, one of the last songs I ever taped from the chart rundown! DD was a quirky old thing to be sure, well crafted but anybody coming to the list of number ones a few decades later would need to be briefed about the “goodwill” effect referred to at length above, as it’s not quite strong enough to explain number one-ness on its own.
I think I’ve mentioned it before on these pages, but an illustration of how the band is ingrained in the national consciousness: last time Ross Kemp returned for a stint in EastEnders, a passing character in a gents’ in a motorway services (IIRC) spotting no-spring-chickens Phil and Grant at adjacent washbasins, remarks “I see Right Said Fred have reformed”. Cut to the bruvs emerging from the gents, dusting off their hands having duffed up another victim.
Always got the idea that they knew their fame was fleeting. I found that endearing.
#38 – alas, BC and the F were strictly private functions/birthday parties only. Mainly our own – once we ran out of band members who were having a party, bookings inexplicably dried up.
Although as a side project we did end up as the house band for ‘Bugsy Malone’ at Brentwood Prep School. Which was a) bizarre, as it’s a boys’ only school; b) not very rock and roll, so we tended not to tell our mates; and c) one of the most enjoyable couple of gigs I’ve ever done.
(I can’t recall Bar Riga – but suspect I’ve been there…)
#42 a pity, as it’s a truly great (so bad it’s good) name for a covers band..
Bar Riga is on the London Road, just as you come out of Southend, opposite the ESSEX FURNITURE SHOWROOM, which always has its first “ES” lettering stolen. (It mainly sells beds, so, well, fair enough). I think there is a vague Eddy & the Hotrods connection with the venue- it’s an amiable enough place, actually, Jools Holland has played there, but it is mainly covers bands, mainly now covers bands who play tribute to bands who were big in the 70s or earlier. A real local curiousity and Good Thing, in fact. I did feel sorry for them the time they booked a Blockheads tribute band for the same evening that the real thing were playing at a festival in Chalkwell Park half-a-mile away a couple of years ago…
It’s not often I mark higher than Tom, or the readers’ average, but I’ve given this a (perhaps generous) 6. I think it has a certain charm.
I recall a fulminating correspondent in the NME (or maybe MM) letters page being held up for ridicule for raging against the supposed doggerel “I’ll explain, you’re my lowest lane.”
“I’ll explain, you’re my lowest lane.”
Like Matt DC said: filth.
but that line could have gone into REM’s “one I love” song, no problem.
Off topic I know, but Brian Cant falls under the category of NEVER MEET YOUR HEROES by all accounts. Whereas Lionel Morton was a perfectly amiable chap.
#47: I always think of Brian Cant as some sort of despotic figure – but that’s probably because of Half Man Half Biscuit and The Trumpton Riots. Is this characterisation actually fair?
I’ve never met Brian Cant. But I’m getting into a whole generation of new kids’ TV presenters since I’ve been a father, and I always think what a great ‘Extras’ style behind-the-scenes comedy series could be made about a CBeebies equivalent.
If anybody reads this and fancies writing and producing it, I’d be happy to give them 50%.
I can understand that – I do find myself wondering, for instance, how brattish the Green Balloon Club really are. And the dynamic between the four main presenters and Katie from “I Can Cook” who’s getting a lot more screen time lately…