I bloody love this song. I was diagnosed with autism and dyspraxia when I was 20, and I remember people at the time (and now in fact) saying things like "but you don't act autistic". And I used think 'What the fuck does that mean? Am I meant to be stimming 24/7 and non-verbal? is that all I can be to be validated by you?" This song is such an anthem for anyone who's ever been judged, patronised, or just generally suffered at the hands of ableism, and it just makes me love Ian Dury even more for writing it.

@katymcgrath2878

3 жыл бұрын

👏👏👏

@conan6939

2 жыл бұрын

Don't say ableism. It makes you sound like a tard.

@nodiggity9472

2 жыл бұрын

You know Ian Dury wasn't autistic, right? He wasn't a spastic either. He had Polio. And he liked his speed. But yeah, I love him too, and I'm not autistic, or a spastic, or physically disabled at all. Or gay. But I love me some speed.

@complicitytheory

2 жыл бұрын

@@conan6939 I say ableism. Don't say tard. And I'm autistic. And I'm hoping you're not an actual 'tard.

@complicitytheory

2 жыл бұрын

As an autistic, I love this song. But I loved this song when I heard it in the 70s, and didn't find out I was autistic until decades later. I still get "but you don't act autistic". And I say, yes I do, I just have to hide it from you to keep my bloody job. And so I have to do the job and also do all the effort to pass as neurotypical to keep it. I'd never want to give up my autistic traits. When they aren't causing meltdowns, they're super powers.

Ian’s own words about the song: “I’d written this in the Year Of The Disabled”. I was going to start a band called Spastic & The Autistics, because the word ‘spastic’ is a swear word. There was that girl group Bananarama who used to talk about “Spazz Dancing”. Their ignorance is their own affair. I wanted to do something for the Year Of The Disabled so I wrote ‘Spasticus Autisticus’ knowing it would be unacceptable to the BBC. They banned it as they did ‘Wake Up And Make Love To Me’ and ‘ Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll’. They actually don’t BAN it. They just don’t play it. Apparently you could only play it after dark, with written permission. I did about 140 interviews related to the song that year. It was a war cry for my brothers and sisters who are disabled. Only a spastic could understand that. It’s not describing a condition. It’s just being spirited”

@marielacey7928

3 жыл бұрын

The man was a true genius I saw him when I was sixteen and was deaf for two days after he would fall over on stage and the bouncers would pick him up and what was amazing is nobody laughed and in the early eighties that was unusual xxx

@GrilloTheFlightless

3 жыл бұрын

@@marielacey7928 I was lucky enough to see him live a year before he died. Phenomenal. I was due to see him at a festival the next year, but he passed away before the gig.

@marielacey7928

3 жыл бұрын

@@GrilloTheFlightless I'm glad you got to see him as I said a true genius also it's always been said that the blockheads were the greatest backing group ever

@nodiggity9472

2 жыл бұрын

In proper English usage, "spastic" is used to describe a jerky, twitchy involuntary movement or "spasm", especially of the arms, legs or neck. Its not even slang. And to be fair, I remember Bananarama dancing from back in the day, and they really did dance like spastics. Unlike Ian, who was neither a spastic, or autistic. Anyway, "spastic" was never used as a perjoritive term or slur for disabled, it was used by able bodied people, as an insult to their able bodied, but possibly clumsier friends. I have many, able bodied friends, many of whom do some monumentally stupid and clumsy shit. For example, when my mate tried cooking with gas in his tent in the rain, and turned the tent into a fireball, and nearly burned all his stupid hippy hair off. It was the single most brain-dead thing I'd ever seen anyone do, which it was, and called him a "stupid fucking retard" because he'd tried to change the gas bottle by candlelight, then fumbled the canister in the tent, which melted in a ball of flame. Now, I know a lot of people will say that I shouldn't have called him a retard. That it was his lack of dexterity that caused the debacle, and therefore, I should have called him a clumsy spastic. But I maintain to this day that you'd *have* to be a stupid fucking retard to fill your candle-lit tent with butane gas. While inside it. Today, he would be applauded for his bravery, for surviving such an awful (yet hilarious) experience, and for being such an inspiration to other victims of other fires. But that's a bunch of horseshit. No-one who does such an irresponsible and retarded thing as that, should ever be lauded for it. Mocked? Yes. Scorned? For sure. But anything else is hardly appropriate. Fucking hippies.

@dannyinaus

6 ай бұрын

but he used to take it up the ass and got the colon cancer.

Dury's throat control is awesome, those little higher pitched yelps he does when he says 'spasticus' are perfect.

Just Ian Dury saying fuck it I am who I am, no big deal..and speaking out for people in the same boat as him..just wanting to be treated the same as everyone else with no special treatment simple as..true genius was the late great Ian Dury,an inspiration for keeping it real.

I was lucky enough to work stage security at the Roundhouse gig (we weren't needed)and l'll never forget him crying with pain as he came back onstage for a second encore. No,he wouldn't accept help. What a MAN.

@Soundpj

Жыл бұрын

Agreed 100bper cent....he was no idiot....just grave and real

@Soundpj

Жыл бұрын

Brave not grave

@zenaakers7469

Жыл бұрын

The music speaks for itself, what a hero of the first order. more precious as the years pass.

@pigknickers2975

Ай бұрын

Blimey, amazing story. An amazing man, no doubt.

Great song. This was written by Ian Dury in protest at the International Year for Disabled Persons (1981), which he felt was patronising. Dury himself had polio which he was thought to have picked up when he accidentally swallowed infected water in a swimming pool. I personally love this song and listen to it a lot. I think it is wrong to censor something because of fear that people will find it offensive. There are probably a lot of disabled people, or spastics as they used to be commonly called, who love this song.

@ELGROOVER

8 жыл бұрын

+Miles Jolly ~ YES. Indeed, so it is, though I miss the "individual call out declarations" that are omitted here. (For those unfamiliar), this recording is cut off short, due to the viddy match up. Being half man half asparagus myself, YES. ....I love this song and consider myself to be a "social spastic" (or "spazzer)" Go forth and enjoy the full five odd minutes... " I am the Omega Man!!" ...Charlton Athletic ? I'd say so, in his day, for sure.... wtf..? heheh.. Topper info MJ, people need to know (:

@milesjolly6173

8 жыл бұрын

+ELGROOVER have you seen the video where Ian Dury talks about the song and does the Bus Driver's Prayer? that's quite good.

@unslashed

7 жыл бұрын

couldnt say better

@marshbeck2047

7 жыл бұрын

Our Father, Who art in Hendon Harrow Road be Thy name Thy Kingston come Thy Wimbledon In Erith as it is in Hendon. Give us this day our Berkhampstead And forgive us our Westminsters As we forgive those who Westminster against us. Lead us not into Temple Station And deliver us from Ealing, For thine is the Kingston The Purley and the Crawley, For Iver and Iver Crouch End

@rjjcms1

6 жыл бұрын

Haha that's really good - does it go hand-in-hand with Flanders & Swann's "A Transport of Delight"?

This man and the band should be far higher up in our music conscience. A master.

@johnsabbath5440

8 ай бұрын

Couldn’t agree more

@ingridthurner3651

2 ай бұрын

Absolutely ❤

@christopherwest4580

2 ай бұрын

Never a truer word spoken.👍

The performance of “Spasticus Autisticus”, the edgy song by Britain’s most famous Raspberry and polio victim, Ian Dury, at the Paralympics Opening Ceremony was special and emotional.

an anthem for spazzers everywhere. I am one and it crack me up every time,

@phuckewe5876

2 жыл бұрын

No ur not ur just an idiot.

@robsmissen4

Жыл бұрын

Me to, we are all Spasticus!

what a master of creativity of a play on words. A punk alternative Shakespeare was he...

@sexobscura

5 жыл бұрын

UnPC

@caramuyo

3 жыл бұрын

I couldn't said it better myself.

Proud that my country Australia allowed the blockheads to do this song on it's only music station at the time, especially as it was banned from most countries media. When they did this on Aussie tv, was when they toured here and the time I got to see them live in little old Adelaide South Australia and it was a fuckn' ripping gig

Whoever knew funk and punk would be such a brilliant mix!

@drlarrymitchell

Жыл бұрын

Ian did.

I hope some day this man gets recognized for his genius !

@valuetraveler2026

6 ай бұрын

Not in the UK

Ian dury.. A true original. I love that not everyone 'gets' him. Ian was special! Love it x

He had such energy on-stage, it was just infectious.

Hello to you out there in normal land...what a great line, Ian you were a genius and sorely missed, nobody could ever replace a one off like you

I have Asperger's Syndrome. This is going to be my favourite song.

Surrounded by so much talent, too: Norman Watt-Roy on bass and Wilko Johnson on guitar. I first heard this song in a big, smoky club in Amsterdam around 1981: the keyboards around 2:45 are still wobbling around in my head.

I am an epilepticus and I know it is not the same but this song is amazing for me

@JamesLivesInBuffalo

8 жыл бұрын

+ninaaa Dury had Parkinson's; it's an anthem for the whole disabled community. Rock on.

@JamesLivesInBuffalo

8 жыл бұрын

+ninaaa Sorry, Polio as a child (thanks to commenter +Schlafwandler65 below).

@topbanana8438

8 жыл бұрын

ian dury did not have Parkinsons he contracted polio

@seansands424

5 жыл бұрын

@@JamesLivesInBuffalo Ian Dury Clever with words, like clever trever very clever bloke and the group

@nielszindel1151

2 жыл бұрын

He was singing it for all people with disabilities. He was saying quit your feel good patronisation of us. It was brilliant. Delia Morris

I wish my friend never sent me this. Once you listen to it you can't get it out of your head.

@pigknickers2975

Ай бұрын

Seriously been in my head on and off for 40 years, and back again :))))

As a disabled person I love this song 🎵 it's saying to abled bodied peeps that were just people at the end of the day like them , please DONT patronise us .

I'm Spasticus too..Great Music from a talented performer

saw Ian Dury and the Blockheads back in the day. Gods of dance. Love, light and great respect to all Blockheads

As an autisticus myself, I feel so represented rn 🤌🙌

What a talented artist!!!!!!!!!!! - his lyrics are well before his time and totally in touch with raw life experiences - just AMAZING

As a 16 y/o bloke with autism this means a lot to me

Dury was a working class hero for real.

@nodiggity9472

2 жыл бұрын

He wasn't working class though. He was from some kind of Irish Aristo background. Most of the 70s-80s post punk "edgy" crowd were middle class/upper middle class kids, rebelling against their parents opulent lifestyles.

Man! I love this man! A legend!

its slowly dawns on me that he is one of the greats!

I’m Spastucus Dyslexicus!

Ian´s transfoms personal experiences with handicap into a positive self-image by using creativity in writing and making music. He is the pioneer of punk. He is unique and a lyric voice for all of us. We are great fans since 1978.

He was great: brilliant songs, hilarious lyrics and performance: a true original.

The Soonicus you understandicus the bettercus. Thank you Ian

saw the film couple days back fantastic song it a blood shame he dead who will be listening in 2019

@r4h4al

9 жыл бұрын

James Campbell Is it good?

@br00talKidHxC

5 жыл бұрын

James Campbell yeh i am

@davidrock3189

5 жыл бұрын

I'm listening!!

simply brilliant song...from a truly amazing fella. Touches parts others CANNOT REACH. Great musicians. Masterpiece

Genius song and lyrics from the master. RIP, Ian.

Che geniaccio....fantastico! Senti che ritmo , senti che brivido!

Sadly missed RIP Ian Dury xx

Ian ,you were a Rock Dreams true Blue ,I'm Pisstacussed that Your Not Here Now, miss yu Brother.. PissedaKissed raw Talent.

Pure class from a top class man

seen these on Glastonbury main stage 1985 one of the best gigs i was ever at. great musicians

One of the very few performances on Countdown that were actually live and not lip synced...and certainly one of the very best.

@kevingarnett4578

Жыл бұрын

They are miming to the backing track?

a great song from someone who actually suffered, not someone who finds it offensive because its PC. Brilliant

@truckeemick2486

4 жыл бұрын

Will Baker; this is way b4 political correctness. anyhow, now in almost 2020, political correctness, or just plain shut your mouth, you can't speak now, cencoreship , has not caught on at all . you sometimes hear idiots trying in vain to express themselves . a few young ignorant types and NGO's and public servants . That's all . the REAL scum in society . I loved it when he enticed the punters to rip out the seats and throw them aside in the wellington town hall around 79/80, whenever. The new on the scene punks at the time , were astounded when the real rockers obliged Mr Dury . I remember when I brought the fresh off the press "New Boots and Panties," I wasn't exactly sure what I'd brought till I gave it a few spins on the old 1000 watter . Absolute word smith this dude was . Was lucky to see him with Sly and Robbie and that blonde haired rhythm guitarist here, whats his name.

@aftonstan5494

2 жыл бұрын

Hey, I don't think you know what this song is about. It's not about making fun of his situation, it's about making fun of people like you. Non disabled "anti sjws" assume it's making fun of disability, bit it's not. It's protesting against the patronisation and censorship of disabled people. People who insist on not actually listening to us. People like you. Listen to the actual lyrics. It's on the side of the "woke left" in their fight against ableism.

@jlall4467

2 жыл бұрын

@@aftonstan5494 you replied to a comment made during Obama's presidency. You misunderstood his comment and you stereotyped him. Also the video is not making fun of "anti-sjws". That term only came up in like 2017/18. The patronizisation of disabled people as you say was a response to the disabled award. People saying "aww here's your little reward, your cute and child lie, say chess to the camera" and "hey don't say that word because they are unable to fend for themselves because they are weak and can't do anything". Will baker is not one of those people

@aftonstan5494

2 жыл бұрын

@@jlall4467 As a disabled person, that is what I was saying. It's him fighting against the patronisation of disabled people. He is allowed to say that word, but non disabled people are not. That is him reclaiming the word. The comment says he "suffered", and at least implies that they're doing this to "make light of a bad situation" which is reductive and misses the entire point of it. It's his disability, he's saying those words because he is making a point about patronisation of disabled people, he' not defending making fun of disabled people.

@princeofcupspoc9073

2 жыл бұрын

See DEVO's Mongoloid.

This is the vid i'd show anyone who doesn't know of the blockheads as an introduction. It shows off Ian's great sense of style, live presence and performance

Ian best Song ever I was 17 Years Old

You were the bomb Ian Rip legend

Uno de los artistas más grandes del Reino Unido, ó Gran Bretaña sin lugar a dudas es el desaparecido Ian Dury un fenómeno 🎼🎸🎼👌🏽🇺🇾

Classic tune from a pure legend of a top man

I am disabled and so is my sister. We just laughed our arses off at this, it's epic!

@V8AmericanMuscleCar

7 ай бұрын

❤

have to give a lot of credit for his Demena,.voice and musicianship --really good talent..thanks for posting and his biography

Wilkos guitar playing took this song to the next level

It was great to see and listen it in Nottingham.

Authentic, over all saxo...Great song, artistic!!!

What a legend..hated him in the 80s as a kid...didn't realise then what a complete maverick he was. Iconic.

Ian Drury was an amazing song writer. No frills

One of many unknown classics along with John Entwistle's Talk Dirty. Oh and guess what i found out Dury and Norman-Watt both played on Roger Daltrey's solo album Parting Should Be Painless (in 1984).

massive wow 2022

Probably the most mis-received and mis-understood song ever written. Who better than Ian to use his platform in an effort to enlighten and educate everyone to the hidden plight of all people who live with disability. God bless you, mate. It's really something to be a rock star...but ..it really is something else to have the courage and the force to make it clear. You were way more than most, Mr. Dury... I am and always will be in absolute awe of you...The music and the message resound with me...Fantastic...I really miss you.

LMFAO!!! GOD I MISS YOU IAN DURY!!! YOU WERE AN OFF THE WALL ONE-OFF!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

awesome song long live his songs

I have the best memories listening to Ian and his Blockheads in the 80's. Today, I give support to people with ASD, go figure. Feels a bit full circle... This is a Countdown memory for sure!

got this tune from day one...the ban clearly exposed pc for all its ridiculous outcomes, namely, the more division and segregation, in all things not just disabilities...then 4 years ago the most beautiful baby daughter was born to me, she has Downs syndrome. .and this song revealed itself in a whole new light...I love it more now than when I was just a blockhead fan...I go to groups..and see all forms of serious disabilities in young children...Ian Dury writes from the heart of these kids..who (mentally) seem to be the least affected guys in the room...there's a 10 year old with CP who insists we play this every week...and to watch them all dancing, regardless of ability is truly stunningly uplifting..thankyou Ian...for doing more than most in regarding the disabled being treated as equals...thankyou so, so much.... mind you, being a blockhead...if anyone looks at my little avalon the wrong way...then it's a good old fat lip, clip round ear...tends to make people rather thoughtful, does a ringing ear.... 😤

@imjohnfreeman

6 жыл бұрын

right on 👍

@paolofenney2222

6 жыл бұрын

It wouldn't get read out loud now by the pc dick heads

amazing footage, thanks

I think that is one of the funkiest bass players I've ever seen!

Brilliant..........

@helenwaldron7542

4 жыл бұрын

Brilliant commentxx🙏🙏🎵🎼🎼🎧

Yes - powerful. Lifts the boundaries and raises perceptions now as then.

Ian was fab. Also the incredible N W R bass. Just Doss.

@clivewellings7606

11 ай бұрын

Norman: brilliant bass player. Criminally underrated.

Tune👌2023

this song is siccccccccccccccckkkkkkkk i love it!!!

Ian, Norman, Wilko…. What’s not to like. ❤

'So place your hard-earned peanuts in my tin, and thank the creator that youre not in the state im in....." 🇬🇧✅✅👌👌What super lyrics

This is how you respond to awareness days, sensitivity campigns and toxic compassion. Take notes.

@evelanpatton

11 ай бұрын

Serio. Z needs a kick from the O. G.z!

my dad who at the time was a support worker showed me this when I was 10 with my autistic best friend and from that moment onward this was the poor kids theme song

Top geezer. Never let the bastards grind him down.

This guy was. Disabled. No shit. Good on him. Love this music

I've been an Ian Dury fan since NB&P. I have a few health probs myself (there is always someone worse off than you), but this as the "Anthem" of the "Paras" was awesome. I don't have the problems that some of our paras have but this song from Ian speaks volumes for them (and maybe a lttle for me) - thx Ian R.I.P

@helenwaldron7542

4 жыл бұрын

I miss you lovexxx💕💕💕💕🙏🙏🙏🎵🎵🎵

Saw Sex Drugs and Rock n' Roll this week...blown away!!! Don't doubt he was hard work, but what a talent.....listened to this in my youth and didn't really get it...now I feel guilty that I didn't really know what it was all about...he's been gone 10 years now....and boy in this PC world we seriously need another Ian Dury

Amazing band. Wilco on guitar.

Speaking as someone who has Asperger's and happened to be associated with one of those so-called "special needs" sections at school, I can safely say that this song demonstrates a point. It would give me pleasure to see the speech and language centres closed down for their patronism and over-protectiveness. If there's someone campaigning for that to happen, I would support it and this song I think would make an excellent campaign anthem.

@Dermacrosis

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly. Ian Dury is talking from his own personal experience here as he contracted Polio as a child and it left him disabled and given the attitude of the time, and it still lingers now, he knows what he is talking about. The Polio vaccine didn't exist when he was a kid.

Awesome track

I'm Spasticus, and so's my wife. LOL RIP Mr Dury. Rest in Power. You're sorely missed.

@dereklaidlaw6445

Жыл бұрын

Real music

It's a song for anyone who is disabled and has been bullied, harassed, treated exceptionally badly, or even seen by some as subhuman, because of it. If these apply to you, then this song is for you.

@seansands424

5 жыл бұрын

It,s a song for everyone

Anyone else notice that the guy playing the guitar is the guitarist for Dr Feelgood? Good old Wilko Johnson :)

@HOMEnHIGH If you don't like his lyrics then you haven't been paying attention. He was brilliant and wryness incarnate. Thank G-d he decided to give up on his (rather successful) career as an art professor and make the music he heard in his head. Top "O" levels at 16 and recognition as a prodigy even in his own time. Remember, he was punk/new wave/avant garde before any of 'em. Brill!

banned by the BBC, the frank and ironic lyrics will challenge your sensibilities but the relentless funky rhythms command you to dance.

@Dermacrosis

10 ай бұрын

It wasn't you pillock.

@terrenceoblong5259

8 ай бұрын

Wikipedia describes the song as being 'denied airplay' by the BBC, in interviews with Ian Dury it was addressed directly as a ban and I remember the ban being a big thing at the time. I don't understand how you can be so confident in your false assertion.

When musicians could speak their minds and not be censored.

@efa666

2 жыл бұрын

This song was banned by the BBC at the time.

@aftonstan5494

2 жыл бұрын

This is a protest against ableism and patronisation. It ways played at the Paralympics. It's a left wing message. It was censored by right wing/neoliberal dipshits who insisted on treating disabled people like freakshows and pity parties. I suggest you listen to the lyrics before you post shit like this.

Stunning.

On Countdown. A classic from that era

Man the Blockheads were tight as a nail weren't they.

If I knew about this when I was in school I would have been expelled a million times 😂 Ps I went to a special needs school run by nuns

You'd never get away with a bloody song like this, in this day and age- (never in a month of Sundays!) :/

@seansands424

4 жыл бұрын

Get rid of PC

@aftonstan5494

2 жыл бұрын

Neither of you understand. This would be accepted by the woke left because it's written by disabled people for disabled people, it's a protest song. Of course saying shit like this to make fun of disabled people would be cancelled, but this wouldn't because it is literally a pro-disability protest song.

@chris6559

2 жыл бұрын

@@aftonstan5494 Define ‘woke’, bet you can’t.

@aftonstan5494

2 жыл бұрын

@@chris6559 woke /wəʊk/ adjectiveINFORMAL alert to injustice in society, especially racism. "we need to stay angry, and stay woke"

@captainkenzie6873

2 жыл бұрын

@@chris6559 Lol

As a young person I find this incredible. Modern ‘music’ will never attain the same genius and musicianship of these guys.

@gibby8179

Ай бұрын

i dunno mate, there's more than plenty of solid music still out there today, just sounds like you haven't gone deeper than the radio stuff

@TheKingOfPunk

Ай бұрын

@@gibby8179 Nah, If you knew who you were talking with you would know very well that I hate most mainstream music. I recommend checking my playlist, you might learn a thing or two 👍

@gibby8179

Ай бұрын

​@@TheKingOfPunk i mean i did specifically say NOT the radio mainstream stuff. From your first comment I kinda imagined that you would hate that. My whole point was, and still is, that there are plenty of great artists/bands that aren't popstar level famous. Also I took a look at your playlist. Your comment about genius and musicianship is kinda ironic since that playlist is chock full of punk, hardcore and emo it seems. Not a slight to those genres, but they're aren't exactly known for their musicianship or genius compared to other genres.

Love.

i love this song

Thank you, Meye Delightful :)

Ahhh..... Great ish right here!!!

Amazing❤

Anybody who has a disability, can relate to this song. If heaven exits Ian's up there right now starting shit with the most able-bodied angel he can find.

What a legend

This song would be outlawed today for so many reasons !!!

@TheKingOfPunk

4 ай бұрын

In that case, the law should be violated.