Rock the house!

Country House

Blur

1995

Now he lives in a house, a very big house in the country
Watching afternoon repeats
And the food he eats in the country
He takes all manner of pills
And piles up analyst bills in the country
It’s like an animal farm,
Lots of rural charm in the country

Behind the words

‘We were basically having an argument with our record company around the time of our second album,’ recalls Blur drummer and Inside Housing guest editor Dave Rowntree. ‘Food, our record company, were saying we’d never be successful, that our vision for a revival of English bands would never work.

‘By the end of our second album the record company sold up to EMI and the managing director [David Balfe] moved out to a big house in the country, and so [lead singer] Damon [Albarn] wrote the song. Of course we ended up being very successful, which he later acknowledged in an interview.’

The single marked the intensifying rivalry between Blur and rival Britpop band Oasis. Released on the same day as the latter’s Roll with It, Blur beat the Mancunians to the number one spot. But victory was short-lived. The following month Oasis’ album (What’s the story) Morning Glory outsold Blur’s The Great Escape, on which Country Life appears.

To date Blur have had five number one albums in the UK - including The Great Escape.

Fiddle with the Volume

Lady Sovereign

2005

F*** 99
My neighbour’s got about 124 problems sittin’ on his mind
Beside the fact that I blare my music all the time

Behind the words
As Inside Housing revealed earlier this year in its exclusive anti-social behaviour survey, social housing tenants are much more likely to suffer from ASB than private sector dwellers. And handling residents’ noise complaints frequently tops housing officers’ to do lists.

Fiddle with the Volume, by Lady Sovereign, is the ultimate, riotous demonstration of the problem. The self-styled ‘hip hop pixie’ performs lyrical hopscotch atop a playful electronic baseline, urging a youthful audience to pump up the volume.

‘Abuse your speakers, disturb your neighbours,’ raps the diminutive 23-year-old and one-time resident of north London’s Chalkhill estate. A reference to the vinyl of yore lays bare the generational divide of high-density living: ‘You’re only complaining cos your records are shit, and they skip.’

Through her music Lady Sovereign, AKA Louise Harman, has made much of her time as a Metropolitan Housing Trust resident on the once notorious Chalkhill estate. The reference to ‘99 problems’ here is a nod to one of those who helped her leave that life behind. American rapper Jay Z, whose own track ‘99 problems’ details the vagaries of life as a native of Brooklyn’s Marcy housing projects, has helped open doors for Lady Sovereign stateside by signing her to Def Jam records.

Not one to mince her words, Lady Sovereign reserves her most stinging rebuke for the final moments of Fiddle with the Volume. A well-spoken voice purporting to be an impatient housing officer urges: ‘As agreed, I’ve arranged for someone to come round and fix your hot water. Will you please switch your phone on.’

‘Moany bitch,’ comes the response.

My Old Man’s a Dustman

Lonnie Donegan

1960

My old man’s a dustman
He wears a dustman’s hat
He wears cor-blimey trousers
And he lives in a council flat

Behind the words

‘King of skiffle’ Lonnie Donegan topped the chart for four consecutive weeks with pub belter My Old Man’s a Dustman. The 1960 hit was the third of three number one hits for the late Donegan, known variously as the founding father of British pop and the original inspiration for The Beatles.

Less known is that the track, co-written by Donegan, was originally called My old man’s a fireman. ‘My dad changed it, just because it was more commercial at the time,’ explains his 25-year-old son Peter, lead vocalist with The Original Lonnie Donegan Band. ‘The reference to the council flat I suppose makes it a bit more every day.’

The words are entirely fictional - Donegan’s father was in fact a violinist. But the singer grew up and lived ‘on and off’ in council housing throughout his life, according to wife Sharon. Living alone with his mum, Donegan ‘never actually slept in his own bed until he was married when he was 25’, reveals Sharon. ‘He slept on the couch.’

As for the cor-blimey trousers, Peter explains: ‘They’re big, baggy trousers for hauling out the rubbish, and they’d make you say cor blimey when you saw them because they’re so big.’

‘My old man’ remains a firm favourite with Donegan fans, adds Peter, on the road to a gig in South Shields. ‘People shout and scream “what about the dustman?”’

Pity the firemen: it could all have been so different.

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