Jonathan Wright
There are musicians who arrive seemingly fully formed in the public consciousness. Others worry away at what they do, trying out approaches and guises that don’t quite work until, if they’re determined enough and lucky, something clicks into place. And then, in the case of late flowerer but long-time contender Baxter Dur y, they get called a “mockney-in-chief ” in an article for their London-inflected troubles.
“I was really happy about that,” says Dury, a hint of mischief in his voice. “I’m the only person that’s really happy about being called a mockney, because that’s what I am. I don’t find it a slant or anything negative. We’re all a kind of salad of different stuff, I am that thing. It was all a bit ‘Oi-oi! B oys’ Club’ at home, yet both my parents met at the Royal College, you know? It was all very artsy-fartsy, but it was all very geezer-geezery.”