Story of the Blues Parts 1 & 2 by Pete Wylie

Album: The Way We Wah! (1984)

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Songfacts®:

This song was originally released by Wah!, one of the many lineups from within which Pete Wylie operated. Part One became, by far, his biggest hit. It receives more air time than all his other compositions put together.
The song is about standing up in the face of adversity, fighting off depression and not caving in to set backs. It was inspired by The Boys From The Black Stuff, a fictional TV series by Alan Bleasdale, which tells of social strife in Wylie's hometown of Liverpool in the late 1970s. Part Two takes the form of a spoken monologue and refers to the works of Raoul Vaneigem and Jack Kerouac.
On a personal front, the song also refers to Wylie's terminal disagreements with record company WEA over the direction and control of his material. >>>
Suggestion credit:
Stu - Fife, Scotland, for all above
Doreen Chanter and future Spitting Image voice artist Kate Robbins were the backing vocalists on the 1982 Wah! version of "Story of the Blues."
Wah!'s original version was heading to #1 on the UK Singles Chart until it was banned.

"I was watching Top of the Pops and the song came on with our vocals but two younger girls miming," Robbins recalled to Uncut magazine. "Doreen called me and complained they had these two younger girls who looked a lot cooler than us mining to our voices. I begged her not to, but she called the Musicians Union, and they blacklisted the song. It was heading to #1, but he wasn't allowed to do Top of the Pops, and it totally messed it up. I felt so embarrassed, but I'm sure Doreen felt it was the right thing."

"Story of the Blues" eventually peaked at #3 behind Renée & Renato's chart-topper, "Save Your Love."

Comments: 2

Saesey from Worthing SussexWhen I hear this I always feel a tingle of sheer joy as reminds me of my birthplace, my wonderful city of Liverpool an our people, I'm displaced here now and 65 ended up in a cleaning job so this resonates, take care all.
Bobby from Alicante, SpainI always understood that the song was about alcohol abuse and was originally 'The story of the booze' which, obviously, wouldn't be commercially acceptable or get played on BBC or Radio 1. The lyrics and video seem to back this up but I'd be interested in other interpretations.

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