It took Jemina Dury 12 years.,but finally here it is. Unpublished words, music and six chapters of Ian Dury's memoirs as presented by his daughter and I can't wait.Of all the missed by thatmuch interviews I never conducted, missing out on the genius that was Ian Dury stings the most. A Dance Hall (as in English vaudeville) song and dance man who leapt on to the anything goes coattails of punk and rode it hard for years, the riddled middle "spasticus artisticus" funny and smart man of punk, took his addiction for Gene Vincent and added it to his wide boy cockney attitude for smash hits like "Sex And Drugs And Rock And roll" and Hit me with Your Rhythm Stick" to name but two.
Now his daughter Jemina is releasing a collection of his never before seen work, according to contactmusic. com:
"Previously unheard songs recorded by late rocker Ian Dury are to be released alongside a book filled with the singer/songwriter's scrawled notes and photographs.
"The Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick singer's daughter, Jemima Dury, has pieced together Hallo Sausages – The Lyrics of Ian Dury after unearthing piles of notes, demo tapes and band memorabilia.
"The book contains lyrics written between 1970 and 1999 and six chapters detailing every stage of the British singer's career. It will be accompanied by a Cd featuring recordings fans have yet to hear, including a whole new verse for the song Sweet Gene Vincent and a previously unreleased demo of a track called Nervous P**s.
"Jemima tells British magazine Radar, "As soon as dad died in 2000, I knew I needed to do the book. At first it was too emotional to even pick up a Cd case and I couldn't face it.'
"But, in 2007, I started to go into dad's storage (facility) in London. He had stashed all his paperwork in this lock-up in bin bags, carrier bags and boxes – so I started to dig around and found he kept a huge map of his life.
"Being a kid, I used to tidy up his records – it bugged me when it was messy… Doing this book, I'm doing the same thing with his lyrics. It's bringing him back and putting them in a safe place."
I don't know about you, and I admit to being a bit of a softie, but I think that is the sweetest thing I've ever heard.