This was Sham 69's sixth single and third to break into the national top twenty (this one at #10) and ironically when re-released as the England Football theme song as 'Hurry Up England' it also reached #10 again. However, I'm not posting this because of 'Hurry Up Harry', which in my opinion wasn't Sham 69 at their best, but the other side 'No Entry'.This single was a double a-side but not that many people were aware of the alternative a-side 'No Entry'. Which in my opinion is a true punk classic is based upon when Sham 69 planned to play in the US, but when they applied for a visa, Jimmy Pursey was rejected as he had a previous conviction for possession of dope. The lyrics still make me smile today:
"They wanted us to go to New York Shitty" "But the man at the embassy said oooh what a pity" "With all the things you done in the past" "Never mind son, carry on smoking the grass"
"They didn't want us in the USA" "We didn't wanna to go there anyway" "They don't want us in the US of A"
and the excellent:
"The press all started to ring" "asking whats happening" "mama said I don't know" "but I said they wont let us go" "We don't care what you think of us" "This is where we live" "Stick America up your arse"
It's a shame they did want to go really (and they did in the end) but who can blame them. You can also see on the back cover they have given thanks to their local pub, The Waterman's Arms in Hersham and sarcastically to the American Embassy for their lack of support. Excellent.
Band: Sham 69
Label: Polydor
Year: 1978
Tracks:
1. Hurry Up Harry!
2. No Entry
Ripped from glorious scratched vinyl:
If you like this, then buy this, both these tracks are on it, plus all of their best singles, and a few more tracks, at £3 you can't go wrong. Buy it now:
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7 comments:
Your right Gary. No Entry was a classic Sham song. I saw them twice, and loved them. And I was certainly no Skinhead!
They come in for a lot of criticism these days from the arm chair Punk revisionists.
The usual one is the violence at some of their gigs, and JP‘s inability to control it. As I recall violence at punk gigs was fairly commonplace in 77/78. That includes gigs by the Banshees, Jam, Gen X, etc.
They were a great live band. And their particular sound that later came to be categorised as ’Street Punk’ was an antidote for those that didn’t like what they heard when they put on ’Gates Of the West’ and ’Groovy times’.
This single will always have a special place in my heart. Nice memories from the Space Singles Records Shop close to NK in central Stockholm. Late one friday night we got kicked out of the shop 'cus the owner wanted to close and go home. But we said he had to play a new punk single before, and he did put this one on. Arrived from Britain the same day. When?
Robert - Stockholm
violence at gigs seemed to be routine back in the late 70s, ruts, damned, adverts, SLF, the lot... not just the Oi bands... I even remember massive violence at a skids gig!!
i would be appaled now, but back then it just seemed to be the norm .. or perhaps it was just a welsh thing
kids these days dont realise how lucky they are ... i died in the punk wars so they could go to a gig without getting thier head kicked in ;)
excellent blog!
I'm with Clint on this. Or perhaps it was just a Welsh thing! Even Anarcho gigs used to have shit loads of trouble. Boneheads in Cardiff, hooligans in Swansea. It always used to kick off at some point. Happy Days!
Anyway, 'No Entry' I have to say is I think, Sham's finest hour. One of the first bands that took me down this rocky road. I only bought the first Crass 12 inch cos someone told me they sounded like Sham.
Cheers
J
Hi everyone thanks for all the comments. I agree I cannot remember many gigs where there wasn't a punch up. I don't think the old Pogo style dance helped.
I have to say taking my kids to see bands like the Libertines and the Rakes I was pleasantly surprised to see no violence even though the music was still fast and the crowd were jumping around.
Hi devil Dick thanks for the compliment, much appreciated
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