"2HB" is short for "To Humphrey Bogart." In the lyrics, frontman Bryan Ferry employs the screen legend's famous line from Casablanca, "Here's looking at you, kid."
Ferry told The Sun: "I was a big fan of cinema and found a lot of inspiration there, as you can see in the song '2HB.'"
Other songs on the Roxy Music album (their debut) inspired by classic movies include "Chance Meeting," which tips the hat to Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson's romantic 1940s film Brief Encounter, and "The Bob (Medley)," which references the 1968 war epic Battle of Britain.
The title of this song doubles as an unintentional pun on the graphite pencil scale. Speaking to Roxy Music biographer Michael Bracewell, Ferry recalled a conversation with British-American artist Mark Lancaster: "I told Mark that I was writing some songs, and he said, 'What are they called?' So I said that there was one called '2HB,' and he said, 'Oh that's so great – writing a song about a pencil.' Which is a very pop-art concept really – except that I was writing a song about Humphrey Bogart."
In an interview with NME, Ferry elaborated on the appeal of Casablanca: "'2HB' was written sitting at the piano with the typewriter balanced on my knees. It wasn't that I have a thing about Bogart – it could have been any popular idol of the period, or later, James Dean or somebody – and it's not that Bogart was a very tragic figure anyway. It was just that line, 'Here's looking at you, kid,' from the film Casablanca, and coming out of the cinema remembering all those great scenes: the cigarette smoke in the nightclub, and Peter Lorre in a white jacket... The song was written around a period – the late 40s – as captured in that one picture."
The saxophone solo is based on the melody of "
As Time Goes By," as made famous by Arthur "Dooley" Wilson in
Casablanca. Roxy Music also referenced "As Time Goes By" in the lyrics for "Mother of Pearl" in 1973, while Ferry released a cover version in 1999.
Bryan Ferry took inspiration from Humphrey Bogart throughout his career, including wearing a classic white tuxedo similar to the one seen in Casablanca for the cover of his sophomore solo album, 1974's Another Time, Another Place. In 1977, Ferry also released the song "Tokyo Joe" in tribute to the Bogart crime film of the same name.
The Venus In Furs, a supergroup of British musicians including Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, Suede's Bernard Butler, and Roxy Music's Andy Mackay, covered this song alongside "Ladytron" and "Bitter Sweet" for 1998's Velvet Goldmine. Written and directed by Todd Haynes and starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, the film follows the rise and fall of Brian Slade, a fictional glam-rock star based on Ferry, David Bowie, and T. Rex's Marc Bolan.
Bryan Ferry recorded his own solo version of the song for his 1976 album
Let's Stick Together. The singer also did new versions of
Roxy Music cuts "
Sea Breezes," "Chance Meeting," and "
Re-Make/Re-Model."
The Human League named one of their earliest demos, 1977's "4JG" ("For J. G. Ballard"), after this song. Madness also referenced "2HB" on 1988's "4BF" ("For Bryan Ferry"), a tribute song to the Roxy Music vocalist:
The foundation member of a space-age group
Who crooned his way to my heart
Who took the breath of young men and women
Has left us for a brand-new start
According to
Sweet Dreams: From Club Culture to Style Culture, the Story of the New Romantics, Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon would soundcheck for live performances by singing "2HB." Lydon is a big fan of Roxy Music, with the punk-rocker crediting "
Virginia Plain" for making him want to pursue music.
