"Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs" | |
---|---|
Single by Brian and Michael | |
from the album The Matchstalk Men | |
B-side | "The Old Rocking Chair" |
Released | November 1977 |
Genre | Folk rock |
Label | Pye |
Songwriter(s) | Michael Coleman, Brian Burke |
Producer(s) | Kevin Parrott |
"Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs (Lowry's Song)" is a folk song [1] by English duo Brian and Michael. [2] It was released as their first single in late 1977 on Pye Records, [3] and is from their 1978 debut album, The Matchstalk Men. The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for 3 weeks in April 1978. [4] As the song is their only major hit, the duo remain as one-hit wonders in the UK, although one more single titled "Mama" briefly made the UK charts at No. 93 in 1983. [5]
"Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs" was a tribute to the artist L. S. Lowry, who had died in February 1976. The chorus makes reference to Lowry's style of painting human figures, which was similar to stick figure drawings (a "matchstalk" is a matchstick in the Salford dialect). [6]
For the song, Michael Coleman drew on his own memories of Salford and Ancoats as well as the paintings of Lowry. The song lyrics make reference to Lowry's painted scenes of bleak, industrial landscapes being initially unpopular, with the artist only finding fame in later life. According to the lyrics, now that Lowry's paintings hang in galleries among the world's great art, they are so revered that "even the Mona Lisa takes a bow". [7] [8] The song also makes reference to "sparking clogs". Clogs were a type of hard-wearing footwear popular in poor, industrial areas of northern England; to prevent the soles wearing out they were often fitted with iron "segs" or sometimes hob-nails, and these, when scraped along cobbled streets, would give off friction sparks. [9]
St Winifred's School Choir appeared on the record, singing the children's song "The Big Ship Sails on the Alley-Alley-O", which was sung by children in the Salford area with reference to the Manchester Ship Canal.
The single spent three weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart, with a total of 19 weeks on the chart. The B-side of the record is the track "The Old Rocking Chair". Coleman received the Ivor Novello award for 'The Outstanding Lyric of the Year'. [10]
Siobhan Maire Fahey is an Irish singer whose vocal range is a light contralto. She was a founding member of the British/Irish girl group Bananarama, who have had ten top-10 hits including the US number one hit single "Venus". She later formed the Brit Award- and Ivor Novello Award-winning musical act Shakespears Sister, who had a UK number one hit with the 1992 single "Stay". Fahey joined the other original members of Bananarama for a 2017 UK tour, and, in 2018, a North America and Europe tour.
Laurence Stephen Lowry was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Greater Manchester as well as Salford and its vicinity.
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St Winifred's School Choir, from St Winifred's Roman Catholic Primary School in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, was a choir of children whose single entitled "There's No One Quite Like Grandma" in 1980 became that year's British Christmas number one single.
Brian and Michael were a British music duo best known for their 1978 UK number one hit single, "Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs". Without further chart entries, they remain one-hit wonders in the UK. They comprised two members: Michael Coleman and Kevin Parrott.
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