Dury linked funk with London lyrics

"The lyrics of the Kilburn songs were the kind of things that you thought privately, but you never expected to hear out in the open - things like Dury's open declarations of love and lust.

Raucous

"And the humour - it's really hard to write funny song lyrics that don't wear out, but he managed to be funny without just being a novelty."

It was during pop's New Wave of the late 1970s that Dury's raw and raucous music finally found a wider audience.

With keyboard player Chas Jankel co-writing, Dury produced the first Blockheads album New Boots and Panties, which spent two years in the charts.

In a funny way, he laid the foundations for much of British dance music

Charlie Gillett

"With the Kilburns he hadn't found the musical context to make it work - it needed the magic of Chas Jankel," recalls Charlie Gillett.

British dance

"It was the most successful linking together of London lyrics and American funk.

"In a funny way, he laid the foundations for much of British dance music, which hasn't really been acknowledged."

His single Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick sold one million copies in January 1979, but in the mid-1980s Dury's luck changed and he switched his attention to acting and painting.

In 1996, he was diagnosed as having cancer of the colon. After secondary tumours appeared on his liver he was told that the condition was terminal.

Example

Those who knew him were struck by the matter-of-fact way he dealt with this blow.

"He was an example to all of us, as far as dealing with terrible news with great bravery and humour and an absolute lack of sentimentality," says Gillett.

Determined to make as much as he could of the time left to him, in 1998 he reformed The Blockheads, recorded a critically acclaimed album, Mr Love Pants, and went back on the road.

Dury: bravery and humour

He finally succumbed to cancer on 27 March 2000, aged 57.

Now his most famous album, New Boots and Panties has been re-released, the songs newly recorded by the Blockheads with star singers including Sir Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams, Sinead O'Connor and members of Madness.

Proceeds from the album are going to the charity CancerBACUP.

Open-mindedness

In autumn 1999, just months before his death, Dury conducted an interview by email for the music industry magazine Music Copyright Matters.

His answers display his humour and remarkable musical open-mindedness.

Which is the 20th century song you have most enjoyed performing?

Ian Dury: Performing another person's composition, in the case of a rock and roller, means banging in a few outsiders to liven up the set - in my case with Kilburn & the High Roads, this would mean reaching for the Alma Cogan songbook.

Twenty Tiny Fingers always hit the mark, it's got a great lyric, it's fast and furious, and it ain't boring.

Roderick, our pianist, even shaved a little patch of hair off his crown for the choruses: "And the other one's got, a big bald spot, exactly like his pop pop pop pop-a-da pop pop-pop pop."

What is your favourite popular song of the 20th century?

Ian Dury: Perhaps because the emphasis is on rhythm in the Blockheads music, I've picked a song of pure melody - Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael.

A great song must have meaning and be open to interpretation - this one is 60 years old and might have been written this morning.

If you had to name a favourite songwriter from this century, who would it be?

Ian Dury: Stevie Wonder - not only was there hit after hit, the quality of the writing didn't falter for many years.

Happy to embrace every technical innovation, and a virtuoso musician, Stevie is the king of funk pop, which is a category I would be proud to occupy.

By the end of the 20th century, was popular songwriting getting better or worse?

Ian Dury: The dross has varied more than the good songs over the years - tripe needs gimmicks and special effects.

Simply Red write good songs for the Saturday crowd, Thom Yorke is seeking to go a little deeper.

Portishead or Massive Attack are doing something new.

Are there any young songwriters or composers that you rate particularly highly?

Ian Dury: Beck has a wonderful freshness, though whether that will last is hard to predict, and Lauryn Hill and Macy Gray show great potential.

What is your favourite non-pop composition of the century?

Ian Dury: Black Saint & Sinner Lady, by Charles Mingus.

Mingus was the great composer and arranger who linked the Ellington generation to the new age of Charlie Parker.

Mingus conducts with a series of grunts, howls, nods & expressions, and the musicians are locked onto every nuance, tempo change and dynamic.

Every listen to this work raises the question: Does the playing make the work, or the work make the players?

(Interview reproduced by permission of the Music Publishers Association)