Billericay Dickie
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Billericay Dickie is a song by Ian Dury from his seminal debut album New Boots and Panties!! it is arguably one of his most remembered and well known lyrics, in-fact one source even gave his place of birth as Billericay because of the song.
Filled with name-checks for places in Essex and narrated by a bragging bricklayer from Billericay the song is filled with naughty rhymes like:
- I had a love affair with Nina
- In the back of my Cortina
- A seasoned up Hyena
- could not have been more obscener
and
- Her mother tried to ban it
- her father helped me plan it
- and when I captured Janet
- she bruised her pomegranate
Each verse tells a different short story of one of Dickie's sexual conquests around the country, while in the choruses the character insists he is a caring, conscientious lover and 'not a thickie' (not stupid) even giving the names of two girls as sort of references with whom the listen could check with to make sure. Dickie is a character most commonly referred to as 'Essex Boys' or 'Essex Lads' who still exist in abundance in the area to this day and the accuracy with which Dury's lyric and performance portrays this stereotype drew him praise and the song was instrumental in securing him an image of a 'working class hero' and indeed an Essex Boy and is still given as an example of his talent as a lyricist.
Ironically the song, perhaps the best example of Dury's 'Englishness' and 'Essexness' was given its oompah, fairground like arrangement by an American Steve Nugent. Initially a third writing credit was given to Chas Jankel (as did all the songs written by Dury and Nugent on New Boots') but this credit has gradually been phased out as the song has been re-released over the years, the current re-issue of New Boots And Panties!! on Edsel Records credits it solely to Dury/Nugent.
Ian Dury has stated on numerous occasions (including in both his autobiographies Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll: The Life Of Ian Dury and Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Song By Song) that he saw Dickie has a pathetic figure and would reflect this on-stage by breaking down as if he were about to cry during the final part of the song, before returning to normal to shout the final lines of the final verse, despite its spoken intro where Dickie introduces himself the song was rarely used as an opening track for live sets (another song from New Boots and Panties!! Wake Up And Make Love With Me was usually used) but it does open the set recorded live at the Hammersmith Odeon that was released as the Hold Onto Your Structure VHS/DVD, and while it may not have opened many sets it was almost always included in them and live versions can be found on both of Dury's live albums Warts 'n' Audience and Straight From The Desk.
[edit] Sources
- Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll: The Life Of Ian Dury by Richard Balls, first published 2000, Omnibus Press
- Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Song By Song by Jim Drury, first published 2003, Sanctuary Publishing.
- Reasons To Be Cheerful 2-Disc Compilation first released 1996, Repertoire Records
