The Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project » McIntyre Treadmore and Davitt

The hand-clapping sequence at the end of Blockbusters

Chris The Siteowner — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:26:02 +0000

And so we bid a fond farewell to the magnificent but now completed McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt with Hedley Verityesque, which namechecks no fewer than three celebrities in their sixties, who must be taking each day as it comes (if they’re aware of the frequent consequence of getting a mention in an HMHB song). I’ve never fathomed out what might be described as “Hedley Verityesque” (a certain bowling action, perhaps?). I’m sure you’ll tell me. Thanks to Sarah, Nigel, gNick and John

See lyrics to Hedley Verityesque

Beneath your Reverend Jim Jones bedspread

Chris The Siteowner — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:22:46 +0000

The title of A Lilac Harry Quinn defeats me, I have to say, although apparently Harry Quinn had a cycle shop in Liverpool, so maybe he sold “Harry Quinns” and maybe you could get lilac ones. Or something. Anyway, a few cycling references in this one, as well as an obscure athletics one. This must be a popular song, as five people have sent in the lyrics to it – and no two sets were the same (and my final compromise takes bits from all of them). Thanks to gNick, Jon F, Nigel, Sarah and EskimoEric

See lyrics to A Lilac Harry Quinn

How can you say we sound like Frazier Chorus?

Chris The Siteowner — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:31:06 +0000

Girlfriend’s Finished With Him is another good song about being in a band which also manages to shoehorn in a football reference, and something or other about dolphins. And that chorus at the end is one of those things which gets inside your head and refuses to leave for days. Thanks to Nigel and EskimoEric

See lyrics to Girlfriend’s Finished With Him

She goes out in 32 but comes home in 54

Chris The Siteowner — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:20:30 +0000

Yipps (My Baby Got The) is best remembered for the golfing stuff at the end, but actually, it takes over three minutes of keyboard noodling to get going. Very odd. Still, the Nicklaus and Norman references retrieve it from the rough eventually. Thanks to gnick and Jon

See lyrics to Yipps (My Baby Got The)

Trying in vain to wave a fourball through

Chris The Siteowner — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:15:56 +0000

Our Tune not only had the first-ever mention of a former Ipswich Town player in the HMHB songbook, but it also referenced the A47, which isn’t a million miles away either. So I liked this one. Of course we later got Zondervan and Chatteris, but it always kept a special place in my heart. And he did look a bit like Alan Brazil, you know. Thanks to Nick

See lyrics for Our Tune

Where Vanburn Holder joins a local grindcore outfit

Chris The Siteowner — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:07:48 +0000

Let’s Not was a surprisingly sophisticated choon which features a relatively rare cricketing reference and several (fortunately less rare) references to irritating TV persons. It was the big single from what could almost be called the “comeback” album McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt (all together now, Hagerty F, Hagerty R…) which marked the start of the band we’ve all known and loved ever since. Sorry, I’m rambling.

See lyrics to Let’s Not

Wendy Wimbush on a spacehopper

Chris The Siteowner — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:45:27 +0000

Christian Rock Concert undertakes the tricky but ultimately necessary task of taking the piss out of Christian rock. Which is uniformly terrible. I have no idea if Wendy Wimbush is, was, or ever has been, associated with evangelical Christianity, or whether she’s just one of those people they had to get into a song somewhere, even if there was no obvious connection. Apparently our favourite cricket scorer was “forced into retirement by the beancounters at the ECB” according to the Guardian Unlimited’s wonderfully named David Hopps, who managed to mention HMHB and spacehoppers in what was probably his last opportunity, ever. Good work, Sir.

See lyrics of Christian Rock Concert

And we could go to a Meadowlark Lemon seminar

Chris The Siteowner — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:24:59 +0000

File Prag Vec At The Melkweg under the “please don’t ask me to explain this one” category. Some baffling references – I can’t find any reason to reference (presumably Craig) Stadler’s caddy, but hey, somehow the whole still manages to be amusing.

See lyrics of Prag Vec At The Melkweg

But I could still upset you with Millican and Nesbitt

Chris The Siteowner — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 20:16:28 +0000

My favourite memory of Everything’s AOR is performing a word perfect rendition of the song with fellow Brit Jon G, walking through the streets of New York late one night, after far too many expensive weak American beers. Although one element of that sentence may be hazily recalled. Perhaps the rendition was actually bloody awful. Probably bemused the Yanks though.

Lyrics of Everything’s AOR

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wade?

Chris The Siteowner — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:41:27 +0000

We’ll kick off with Outbreak Of Vitas Gerulaitis. This was probably the one which started it all off for me. Sometime about 1990 I took my girlfriend to a comedy gig at a tiny venue in London’s swinging Covent Garden (what was I thinking?). The memory is very hazy, but the headline act was someone like Attila The Stockbroker. However, I was gradually captivated by the support band, who raced through so many brilliant cultural references during their set that I could hardly remember any of them afterwards. Soon afterwards I heard – probably on John Peel’s show – Outbreak Of Vitas Gerulaitis and clearly recalled that particular reference during the live gig I’d heard. So the band was Half Man Half Biscuit! It must have been about the time McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt was released.

Lyrics of Outbreak Of Vitas Gerulaitis