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Mott the Hoople/ all the young Dudes

CookieCookie
edited September 2011 in Local discussion
At the end of this brilliant record, Ian Hunter asks for someone to be brought to the front, and that he has 'wanted to do this for years' . I might regret asking this, but what on earth IS he doing to this person? I have wanted to know for years!!!
Is there a genuine answer?
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Comments

  • AliAli
    edited 8:32AM
    Heard this this afternoon on the I Player replay of yesterdays Pick of The Pops from 1972. Apparently as well as producing it Bowie played the sax on it.
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  • CookieCookie
    edited 8:32AM
    @ Ali, ditto , but please, do you know the answer?
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  • andyandy
    edited 8:32AM
    Cookie - google is your friend. <http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=867>; After the first recording session for this song, Bowie thought it was lagging at the end. Mott lead singer Ian Hunter responded with the idea for the one-way conversation, which begins with him saying, "Hey, you down there, you with the glasses!" Said Hunter: "I remembered an encounter I'd had with a heckler during a recent gig at the Rainbow [in London]. He was annoying me, and I ended up pouring beer all over him." <http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-aow/mott.php>; As the chorus repeats to a fade, Hunter calls out: "Hey, you there. You with the glasses. I want you. I want you in the front. Now." Soon, he loves and faces down his victim, who I imagine as some hapless Emerson, Lake & Palmer fan. "How did it feel?" someone asks. Hunter's reply is barely audible, the last word of the song: "Sick."
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  • andyandy
    edited 8:32AM
    Also, if he was recalling a gig at the Rainbow, then there's a legit Finsbury Park connection to the recording.
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  • AliAli
    edited 8:32AM
    ELP well I had forgotten about them and the dagger throwing into their organs. I used to love Pictures at an Exhibition must go and find the bit of plastic in the loft and give it a play. They had to be good as they were based on members from The Nice, Atomic Rooster and King Crimson. Hendrix nearly got involved so they nearly became HELP !
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  • ADGSADGS
    edited 8:32AM
    The Vichy Government (50% Stroud Green-resident synth nihilists) do an excellent cover of 'All The Young Dudes' with a few tweaks to the lyrics. Among them is an 'I mean to have you, even if it must be burglary' for whoever is being brought to the front.

    I always used to think it was the only decent Mott song, but of late I think I've come to love 'Saturday Gigs' even more.
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  • kreuzkavkreuzkav
    edited September 2011
    I think Finsbury Park and Stroud Green had more of a rock vibe back in the 60s and 70s with The Rainbow and the other venues that held early Bowie, T-Rex and Beatles gigs. The George Robey carried on that tradition a bit through the 80s and into the early 90s.

    Boogaloo did it in the 2000s. Has this part of London been condemned to property show trust funders with £230,000 in savings to spend on a flat. They soak up the 'trendy pub vibe' with their 'affected' sideburns,.
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  • AliAli
    edited 8:32AM
    I couldn’t make my mind whether the side burns were trendy of ridiculous !
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  • kreuzkavkreuzkav
    edited 8:32AM
    @ Ali, I found Sideburn's girlfriend more loathsome.
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  • kreuzkavkreuzkav
    edited 8:32AM
    Before bedtime I thought I'd write some prose about the couple on Location...Sideburn's couple. Here goes:

    Sideburn rapped all night how he'd kick it in the head when he was 25, but realised he could take out a pension scheme after his mediocre girlfriend (pretty but generic) told it's about time to have a family.

    He said, I've drank a lot of wine and I'm feeling abit sublime but I know what you mean, who needs a flat in Stroud Green when we can have one with a garden in Turnpike Lane.

    I'm a dude he then went onto say.

    All the young dudes, have the right estate agent
    All the young dudes, boogaloo is gone and let's hang out at Seasons
    I'm a grown up now!
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  • twinsparktwinspark
    edited 8:32AM
    Bring back the Rainbow!
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  • andyandy
    edited 8:32AM
    never stop judging Kreuzkav, never stop judging
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  • ArkadyArkady
    edited 8:32AM
    Bring back the Robey. I fear that the shell is beyond restoration now, which may well have been the intention of whoever owns it. Breaks my heart whenever I go past on the train.
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  • ThomasThomas
    edited 8:32AM
    Is there not a planning application in to turn it into a hotel, casino, bar complex? Maybe the completed student building next door will create more demand.
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  • graemegraeme
    edited 8:32AM
    Friend of mine's Dad does the handclap at 02:37 on Space Oddity (though I cannot confirm if it is also Dan's Dad at 04:09) . And I live in SG, so this is also relevant to our interests.
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  • ArkadyArkady
    edited 8:32AM
    @Thomas - I did find a planning application once, but I couldn’t work out whether it had been accepted. It was old, and may have expired now anyway. I emailed Islington about it a while back and received no response. But you’re right, the impressive new commercial/student building next door may help to restore the target audience. Sure needs something, the stretch around the Rainbow is arguably the grimmest in the Finsbury Park area (outside of the Tollington housing estates).
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  • andyandy
    edited 8:32AM
    @graeme this is a proper claim to fame, of the kind Danny Baker would want you to call him and talk about. fantastic.
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  • andyandy
    edited 8:32AM
    @arkady - if my experience with the planning department is any guide, they wouldn't know if had been approved, either.
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