Hangover Square

Album: 1,2, Kung Fu (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Boy Azooga is a four-piece Welsh band lead by Davey Newington. This song from the quartet's debut album 1,2, Kung Fu was inspired by Patrick Hamilton's 1941 novel Hangover Square, which is about a drunkard's adventures in the days preceding Britain declaring war on Germany.
  • Newington was given the Hangover Square book by his father, a former violinist with BBC National Orchestra of Wales. "And now he plays the strings on that song, the singer told Q magazine, "it's wicked."
  • In Hangover Square, the protagonist, George Harvey Bone has a series of schizophrenic episodes, referred to in the text as "dead moods." Newington explained to Drowned in Sound that "the repetitive ending of the song is supposed to represent being trapped in one of George's dead moods."
  • There's a second song inspired by Patrick Hamilton's Hangover Square on our database. Check out Detroit punk band Protomartyr's track "Maidenhead."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Top American Idol Moments: Songs And Scandals

Top American Idol Moments: Songs And ScandalsSong Writing

Surprise exits, a catfight and some very memorable performances make our list of the most memorable Idol moments.

Mike Scott of The Waterboys

Mike Scott of The WaterboysSongwriter Interviews

The stories behind "Whole Of The Moon" and "Red Army Blues," and why rock music has "outlived its era of innovation."

Dave Edmunds

Dave EdmundsSongwriter Interviews

A renowned guitarist and rock revivalist, Dave took "I Hear You Knocking" to the top of the UK charts and was the first to record Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk."

Lip-Synch Rebels

Lip-Synch RebelsSong Writing

What happens when Kurt Cobain, Iron Maiden and Johnny Lydon are told to lip-synch? Some hilarious "performances."

Michael Bolton

Michael BoltonSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete BlondeSongwriter Interviews

The singer/bassist for Concrete Blonde talks about how her songs come from clairvoyance, and takes us through the making of their hit "Joey."