Baggy Trousers

"Baggy Trousers" is a song by English ska/pop band Madness from their 1980 album Absolutely. It was written by lead singer Graham "Suggs" McPherson and guitarist Chris Foreman,[1] and reminisces about school days. (Mike Barson also received a writing credit in error, the correct McPherson/Foreman credit being used for subsequent releases). The band first began performing the song at live shows in April 1980.[2]

This article is about the Madness song. For the clothing item, see wide-leg jeans.

"Baggy Trousers"
Single by Madness
from the album Absolutely
Released5 September 1980
Recorded1980
Genre
Length2:46
LabelStiff
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Madness singles chronology
"My Girl"
(1979)		 "Baggy Trousers"
(1980)		 "Embarrassment"
(1980)
Audio sample
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It was released as a single on 5 September 1980 and spent 20 weeks in UK charts, reaching a high of #3.[2] It was the 28th best-selling single of 1980 in the UK.[3]

In October 2017, American punk rock/hip hop band the Transplants released a cover version of the song on their Take Cover EP.

Music and lyrics

Suggs later recalled in an interview that "I was very specifically trying to write a song in the style of Ian Dury, especially the songs he was writing then, which [were] often sort of catalogues of phrases in a constant stream."[4] He contrasted "Baggy Trousers" with Pink Floyd's hit Another Brick in the Wall: "I was writing about my time at school. Pink Floyd had that big hit with 'teacher, leave those kids alone'. It didn't really relate to me, because I hadn't been to a public school where I was bossed about and told to sing 'Rule Britannia!' and all that",[4] having instead attended a comprehensive school with much less strictly enforced discipline.

Music video
Lee Thompson flying through the air.

The music video of this song was shot in a school (Kentish Town C of E primary school, in Islip street, London NW5) and the Peckwater Estate in Kentish Town].[2] The band's saxophone player, Lee Thompson decided he wanted to fly through the air for his solo, with the use of wires hanging from a crane.[2] The resulting shot is one of the most popular of any Madness music videos. Thompson recreated the moment live at the band's reunion concert in 1992, Madstock!, during the band's 2007 Christmas tour, the 2009 Glastonbury Festival[5] as well as at a 2011 TV advert for Kronenbourg 1664 in which Madness plays a slow version of "Baggy Trousers". The slow version was later released on the box set compilation A Guided Tour of Madness with the song title Le Grand Pantalon.

The video was met with a great critical response from the public,[2] and was particularly important as it allowed television shows such as Top of the Pops to show the band's music video, taking strain off the band.[2] Following the release of "Baggy Trousers", the public began to anticipate future Madness music videos.[2]

Appearances

In addition to its single release and appearance on the album Absolutely, "Baggy Trousers" also appears on the Madness collections Divine Madness (a.k.a. The Heavy Heavy Hits), Complete Madness, It's... Madness, Total Madness, The Business and Our House: the Best of Madness. Its only appearance on a US Madness compilation is on Ultimate Collection.

The song was featured in the 2001 film Mean Machine, and was included in the accompanying soundtrack.[6]

In 2011, the song was slowed down to half its normal speed and was used for an advert for the Kronenbourg 1664 'Slow' campaign (see above).

In 1986, Colgate used the song's melody in a television advertisement written by Jay Pond-Jones and Ric Cooper in which a group of kids including actor Lee Ross sing newly written lyrics about Colgate Blue Minty Gel toothpaste, a variant of which was later used in the United States.[7] The advert was seen as groundbreaking but had to be pre-approved by the band.[7] Pond-Jones said, "Many years later ... I found out how they actually quite liked it. Even now, Carl from the band introduces me to people as “the bloke who did the Colgate ad”."[7]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Baggy Trousers"
2:46
2."The Business"Mike Barson3:14

Chart performance
Chart (1980) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[8] 30
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[9] 23
France (IFOP)[10] 30
Ireland (IRMA)[11] 5
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[12] 4
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[13] 6
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[14] 3
UK Singles (OCC)[15] 3

Notes
  1. Woodstra, Chris."Allmusic.com Absolutely Overview". Retrieved on 1 July 2007.
  2. "The Madness Timeline: 1980". Archived from the original on 16 July 2009. Retrieved on July 1, 2007.
  3. "Top 100 1980 - UK Music Charts". www.uk-charts.top-source.info. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  4. Young Guns go for it: Madness (BBC documentary)
  5. "Madness get heroes' welcome on return to Glastonbury". NME. 28 June 2009. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  6. Mean Machine OST. Audio CD, Redemption, 2004, ASIN: B00005Y48T
  7. "Colgate | TV & Cinema Ads (archive) | Jay Pond-Jones". Jaypj.com. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  8. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  9. "Ultratop.be – Madness – Bagy Trousers" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  10. "InfoDisc : Les Tubes de chaque artiste commençant par M". Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  11. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Baggy Trousers". Irish Singles Chart.
  12. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Madness" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  13. "Dutchcharts.nl – Madness – Baggy Trousers" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  14. "Charts.nz – Madness – Baggy Trousers". Top 40 Singles.
  15. "Madness: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
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