Ian Dury –Top 10 X-Rated: Spasticus Autisticus Video from www.takeupthybed.com transcribed into written English Please note: text is italics represents singing 1 ,2 ,3 I'm spasticus, I'm spasticus I'm spasticus autisticus (lyric repeats) Tim Yeo (Former head of the Spastics Society): The word spasticus that had a particular negative image. Autisticus Peter Jenner (Ian’s Dury’s manager 1977 -82): Ohhh they didn’t want to confront, it was confronting a difficult subject I wibble when I piddle Cos my middle is a riddle Nabil Shabam (Actor): They don’t want a disabled person who likes to fuck and wank and swear and spit and drink Hello to you out there in Normal Land You may not comprehend my tale or understand As I crawl past your window give me lucky looks You can be my body but you'll never read my books So place your hard-earned peanuts in my tin… Presenter voiceover: In 1981, Ian Dury released a contentious song about disability, considered hostile by the Spastic Society. The BBC banned it outright. Nabil Shabam: It should have been people outside the BBC or inside the BBC occupying, that’s what I would’ve like to have seen, people going into Radio One studios and preventing them from running their program until they played Spasticus Autisticus Chaz Jankel (Co-writer & co-producer): They didn’t actually realize Ian was disabled and they thought Ian was having a go at disabled people. What a Waste playing in background as we see Ian walk outside Presenter voiceover: But the perennially sweary wind up merchant was actually gobbing from moral highground and personal experience. Male news presenter voiceover: Over the children of Britain as early summer draws near a cloud gathers. Poliomyelitis, believe many knowledgeable persons, may reach epidemic proportions. Ian Dury: Polio has an incubation period so when it appeared with me I was at my Granny's in Cornwall and I remember sitting down on the couch in the afternoon and then feeling a bit giddy, feeling a bit fluey, and they diagnosed Poliomyelitis or infantile paralysis. Presenter voiceover: Ian survived with damage to his arm and leg. He was placed in a school for children with special needs Ian Dury: Chailey made me strong physically and mentally. The rule at Chailey was if you fell over you had to get yourself up otherwise you shouldn’t really be there. Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

Presenter voiceover: He was hardened up enough to survive art school and take on the 70’s pub rock scene but it wasn’t easy. Peter Jenner: I definitely got the vibe when the first time we tried to get a deal for him you know that people couldn’t really quite handle the idea of having a 35 year cripple as a lead person of a pop band- couldn’t handle that. Reasons to be cheerful Part 3 Presenter voiceover: Three top ten hits on indie label Stiff earned a major label deal but compromise wasn’t on the agenda. Ian Dury: 1981 was the year of the disabled, which meant 1982 everyone was going to be all right. So I thought, that’s a load of 'bollo', so I wrote a song Hello to you out there in Normal Land You may not comprehend my tale or understand Ian Dury: using the word spaz used always get on my tits quite severely and um, so I thought well, you know um, I’ll make band called Spastic and the Autistics and we’ll go around but my friend Speight he goes no Spasticus Autisticus the freed slave based on the Kubrick epic. 'I’m Sparticus’ Ed Speight (Ian’s School friend): and I’ll have to confess it just came to me you know I’m spasticus, I'm spasticus,… autisticus and he went more, more, more. I'mmm… spasti….cus! I’mmm… Ian Dury: I obviously knew there was a risk that I was going to alienate a lot people and they were going to get the hump with me, what's this fuckin', you know, spazo doing squeaking? Well, I wasn’t moaning. I was actually doing the opposite of moaning. I was yelling. Presenter voiceover: But the Spastics Society thought Dury’s ironic rant was undermining their good work. Tim Yeo: We were certainly critical of it to begin with, um, for the fear that it would strengthen people's wrong images about disability and spastic people in particular. I'm knobbled on the cobbles Cos I hobble when I wobble Presenter voiceover: Dury seemed set for bigger success with his new label but the complete lack of airplay of Spasticus effectively marked the end of his chart career. Its true meaning was understood all too late. Tim Yeo: By that time I’d got over the initial almost kind of gut reaction which had been a critical one into a better understanding of what this was actually about, what it was trying to achieve and above all what kind of person Ian was. Nabil: I don’t think any time that I spoke to him that he actually got an angry response from disabled people Instrumental Chaz Jankel: That was the only song from that album that we included in our live set that we played at every gig from then until a few months ago when Ian passed away. Every single gig we always did it. 54 appliances in leather and elastic 100 000 thank yous from 27 spastics

Tim Yeo: I don’t know what opportunities are for rerealising records but you know maybe if it was coming out today it would have a very different reaction and maybe, maybe it would make a big impact although music tastes have changed a lot since then Nabil Shabam: Tim Yeo… 'yo' Chaz Jankel: Maybe in 50 years they’ll see what he was talking about and it will become an important song again I'mmm… spasti….cus… Nabil Shabam: I think it’s a song that is still waiting to get to number one