In memoriam

Ian Dury, 1942-2000

by Chris Wright

Most people know Ian Dury for his songs "Sex and Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll" and "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick," but my mother will forever remember him for "Plaistow Patricia," a track from his 1977 album New Boots and Panties. Five of the first six words in that song are profanities, and the one that's not is "and." I loved "Plaistow Patricia," and played it 500 times a day at full blast. My mum, of course, hated it, and that was half the fun.

But there was more than filth and fury to Ian Dury. He took punk rock to new heights, combining music-hall larkiness, cockney mordancy, and a tight, funky band to create something entirely original. He also injected punk with a much-needed dose of wit. Although he'd been ravaged by polio since the age of seven, he was energetic and wickedly cheeky (he called himself "Britain's best-known raspberry ripple" -- cockney rhyming slang for cripple).

When diagnosed with terminal colon cancer five years ago, Dury still refused to lay down. "It's better than being hit by a bus," he said. As his health grew worse, he continued to gig regularly, pursue an acting career, host his own TV show, and campaign for the eradication of polio. In 1998 he recorded the acclaimed album Mr. Love Pants.

Over the years, Dury became something of a national treasure in England, the kind of performer even my mother could love. Recently, harking back to another of his biggest hits, "Reasons To Be Cheerful," he appeared in a series of high-profile ads in which he urged Londoners to take the time to enjoy life's small joys.

Ian Dury's music was not only tough and funny, it was often lyrical. Though I'd never have admitted it to my mum, "Plaistow Patricia" was not my favorite Dury song. That was "Sweet Gene Vincent" -- a gentle tribute to his own musical hero -- the opening lines of which are: "Skinny white sailor, the chances were slender, the beauties were brief. Shall I mourn your decline in some thunderbird way with a black handkerchief?"

On Monday, Ian Dury, 57, succumbed to cancer at his home in London. Witnesses say he died with "a smile on his face."