Ian Dury and the Blockhead : I Want To Be Straight
On August 26, 1980 Ian Dury and the Blockheads, now featuring former Feelgood Wilko Johnson, returned to the UK Top 40 with "I Want To Be Straight". Dury and Johnson had met in the early 70's when their former bands ( Dury's was Kilburn and the High Roads) were part of the UK pub rock scene. The two met again backstage at The Rainbow where they were performing in The Stranglers show while Hugh Cornwell was in prison. The Blockheads backed Wilko on his cover version of Don Williams's "Oh! Lonesome Me". Now he was playing rhythm guitar with the band.
The song and video begins with an iconic roll call:
The single is about getting back in shape. Ian Dury had been watching his weight and swimming every day.
"Everybody understands that feeling," says Wilko Johnson in an interview with Smash Hits."Everybody's had it at one time or another."
"If Elvis Presley had eaten green vegetables he'd still be alive," adds Dury. "That's what everybody keeps telling me. I really wish he was still alive, and I want to keep on rocking and rolling --I don't think that's a bad name for what we do --until some other all-encompassing interest comes my way."
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