The Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project

Busking this at Embankment Tube tomorrow

160 pop songs picked over by pedants (in 2,784 comments!)

Notes on recently-added lyrics from This Leaden Pall

Oh, I turned my back on Nazareth

Floreat Inertia is pleasant enough, and the band still do it live, but I never quite got this one, I’m afraid. That said, “the low drone of the treadmill is the sound of my hopes being shattered” is a magnificent line.

Hey Jason, they’ve got no dry ice

Running Order Squabble Fest ticks all the boxes and qualifies as an undisputed Half Man Half Biscuit classic. Brief, hilarious, good riff, modified football chant, embarrassing to its unsuspecting targets …what’s not to like?

When I was appearing on Junior Kickstart

Footprints just wouldn’t work in any accent other than Scouse, would it? This song almost defines the description “droll”. It’s awesomely funny. Ten points just for knowing what or who Bert, Adge, The Shend and Daktari are (I did! And should I be proud of that? Would my parents be proud of me? Would my Dad let me borrow his golf clubs if he knew?).

The burly physio of non-league Farnborough Town

Improv Workshop Mimeshow Gobshite is notable for containing one of the oddest bits of trivia ever to occur in a pop song. HMHB have an awesome track record of mentioning people and places in their lyrics which suddenly go, er, tits up.

Didn’t see no Vicky Leandros

Whit Week Malarkey is one of those songs which has a few rather disjointed amusing references, doesn’t seem to go anywhere, and yet sometimes you can’t get it out of your head.

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