A collection of song lyrics from Half Man Half Biscuit
(or HMHB to those in the know)
Ah yes. Why spend time typing up the lyrics to Half Man Half Biscuit songs? Because they are gems like no other. We celebrate British bands and artists for seminal musical works (think Bowie or Elvis Costello) and, unless you happen to know the late John Peel's inside leg measurement or you were enlightened as a student, the majesty, wit and sheer intelligence of the HMHB opus is ignored. Shame, shame, shame.
Over the years a number of web sites have recorded some lyrics and a multitude of research notes for the songs [see the excellent www.hmhb.co.uk]. The latter are invaluable to understanding the wide ranging and often obscure historical references. The former are a mixed bag, with only a few songs listed.
So what started out as a full hearted attempt by me to record the lyrics so my sister could understand the songs has developed into a blog post and a project to educate the half-hearted masses and to provide a definitive song list with lyrics.
They'll be other crap on here too such as my own songs "Progressive Dads", "People called Wilson", "Blog-proof iPod", "Armchair Expert" and "Holistically Challenged"- I need to finish writing them first :)
"...Baby I'm from the Wirral Peninsula.
A merciless despot with nothing to lose"
6 comments:
I must confess I find it hard to get excited about MT&D; of all the albums, it's the one I listen to least. It's not bad; it just doesn't leap out at me.
Having said that, however, I played it again the other night and read the lyrics here on the site and noticed lots of things I hadn't picked up on before.
But it's no This Leaden Pall, that's for sure :)
Poor old Leaden Pall. I got both albums at the same time, played TLP first then MT&D and discarded TLP in a huff. So MT&D got played an awful lot to compensate.
I quite like the album, partly because I can listen to it in company without having to says things like, "just ignore the poor production quality, it's the lyrics and jaunty melodies I look out for."
Slight difference of opinion there, Geoffrey....
Like I say, MT&D isn't bad, but it doesn't have the sort of songs which can draw me into an album; TLP has 4AD3DCD, Running Order Squabble Fest and Numanoid Hang-Glide, all of which are, to my mind at least, better than anything on MT&D.
I have decided to give up on what I figure to be my favourite album. The way it is at the moment is that whichever one is playing wins!
So fickle eh?
I'm listening to all of the albums in my car at the moment. I've got to say that despite a few cracking songs I intensely dislike This Leaden Pall. M,T&D is miles better although I've discovered I need to replace the CD as it skips like mad.
Today I moved onto Some Call It Godcore. I love this album. Why do they never seem to play any of it live?
My reason for listening to all of the albums through it to try to get a handle on how the hell they choose the setlist. It was the subject of discussion on the way back from Cambridge the other week.
I know a few names are always going to be in the starting 11 (manager's prerogative) but I suspect they could play any 13 songs spanning their career and still please the crowd.
Welcome Pledge 7. Shine on you crazy diamond.
I imagine they write a song title on each playing card from a pack, shuffle then throw the whole lot in the air. If they don't then I'm upset.
EE/MM
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