Exploring the influence of Gene Vincent on Ian Dury
The late Ian Dury is one of the most lauded and highly mythologised figures in the canon of British rock. A true rock ‘n’ roll hero who channelled the energy of those who inspired him when young, when Drury first broke through as the leader of Kilburn and the High Roads, no one had ever heard a lyricist like him, or for that matter, come across a vocalist with such a sharp tongue.
In many ways, Dury was the bridge between the rock ‘n’ roll of the 1950s and its snotty offshoot, punk, which was about to take over the world in the late 1970s. Reflecting this, Paul Simonon of The Clash, recalled in The Guardian in 2009: “You went to see Dr Feelgood, the Alex Harvey Band and Kilburn & The High Roads, and that was it as far as raw British rock ‘n’ roll was concerned in the mid-70s. They were the tough guys, and Ian was one of the toughest. You felt he was coming from the same place as you.”
Dury was not just an artist and a poet but a provocateur and iconoclast who played on his “mockney” roots and augmented them with a touch of his art school panache. Notably, he was 35 when he made it with The Blockheads. This meant that he brought worldliness and maturity to the industry, given that he had already lived several different lives, imbuing his music with the authenticity that established him as such a relatable figure.
While many aspects of Dury’s career stand out, one of the most critical is the lifelong love he had for rock ‘n’ roll hero Gene Vincent. Famously, he even appropriated Vincent’s iconic style when fronting Kilburn and the High Roads by donning black, slicking back his hair like a teddy boy and wearing fingerless gloves.
Dury was first captivated by Vincent when in his early teens and once even claimed to have bought every single by the ‘Be-Bop-a-Lula’ musician. In an interview that’s featured in Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll: The Life of Ian Dury, the Harrow native explained that he first heard Vincent with ‘Be-Bop-a-Lula’ in 1956’s The Girl Can’t Help It, which kicked off this love affair.
Elsewhere, he even admitted that the single had brought him to tears at points as a boy, and throughout his career, he would speak with candour about his idol. Interestingly, like Dury, Vincent suffered from body complications and was forced to wear a leg brace. Still, the former always maintained that he wasn’t aware of Vincent’s condition until much later and that his striking look and voice galvanised him.
Notably, Dury was greatly moved by Vincent’s death, aged only 36 in 1971. In one of his earliest tracks, ‘Upminster Kid’, Dury namechecked his hero, singing: “Well Gene Vincent Craddock remembered the love of an Upminster rock ‘n’ roll teen”.
Then, in 1977, Dury released the raucous track ‘Sweet Gene Vincent’ as the single from his first solo album, New Boots and Panties!! A tribute to the late rockabilly pioneer, before writing the song, he spent six weeks researching the lyrics and reading two biographies before completing it and handing it to songwriting partner Chas Jankel. Later, Jankel would joke that it would have taken around 15 minutes to perform in the form Dury gave to him.
Laying out his love for Vincent, in the opening lyrics, Dury sings: “Blue Gene baby / Skinny white sailor, the chances were slender / The beauties were brief / Shall I mourn you decline with some Thunderbird wine / And a black handkerchief? / I miss your sad Virginia whisper / I miss the voice that called my heart”.
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