Thanks Dizzee!!: I’ve not actually HEARD “Showtime” yet (I’ve given up on advance album downloading, life’s too long to deny yourself anticipation; singles are another matter though, more sweeties please, that email is a gmail after all!) but I know by now that he does a turn over “Happy Talk” by Captain Sensible. This gives me the opportunity to come out as a fan of the Captain, or more specifically of “Wot”, his follow up single (3MB download, click with care).
My Dad is no great pop fan and at the time this song was a totem of all that was risible about modern music, for years afterwards whenever the subject came up he would chuckle and go “He said Captain, I said Wot”. When I downloaded the track I was mildly disappointed that the record is not the monster of minimalist repetition he had built it up as. It is a thoroughly lazy song, but in a positive sense – the backing music sounds like a bunch of mates at a sunny Sunday barbeque not quite managing to play “Good Times”, and Sensible’s game stab at rap is equally ramshackle. The point of the record seems to be Sensible getting irritated at some noisy roadmenders. Alright it’s not quite a classic but it’s hugely endearing and if someone wanted to MC over it I’d be delighted.
(Come to think of it “Glad It’s All Over” could form the basis for a “Dry Your Eyes” style smash! And am I imagining it or did Captain S have some connection with Captain Beaky?)