Almanac Music: ‘There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis’ – Kirsty MacColl

Somewhere about the time of the release of Led Zeppelin III, nearing the end of our Uni days, a friend and I moved into a share house in the leafy Adelaide suburb of Paradise. It didn’t last long. Leafy maybe but Paradise it was not and we were soon given our marching orders. The reason now escapes me.

 

Another resident in the house was a bloke called Rambo. One of the things I do remember about Rambo is his recalling that he had recently seen someone whom he said looked a lot like Elvis in the local store in the seaside locality of Moana to the south of Adelaide.  Of course, this was adapted and enhanced into an apparent sighting of the great man himself.

 

 

Which brings me to Kirsty MacColl and her song, ‘There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis’.

 

The daughter of singer Ewan MacColl, Kirsty carved out a significant career in the post-punk era in England. Rather than the female pop star image, MacColl offered a more grounded approach with her own, often quirky, compositions. She had a hit with her cover of Billy Bragg’s ‘A New England’. And it is her uncompromising voice in the bittersweet, alt Christmas anthem ‘Fairytale In New York’ that hijacks the song from The Pogues lead singer Shane MacGowan.

 

In her song, ‘England 2 Colombia 0’, the singer, at first delighted at being asked out, finds herself in a pub watching a World Cup football match only to discover that the man she is with is a serial liar.

 

You lied about your status
You lied about your life

…

Now it’s England 2 Colombia 0
And I know just how those Colombians feel

 

In similar vein, MacColl’s ‘There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis’ is a sardonic put-down that doubts the sincerity of men. If there was an award for song titles, let alone the music and the lyrics, ‘There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis’ would be up there in the final.

 

There’s a guy works down the chip shop swears he’s Elvis
Just like you swore to me that you’d be true
There’s a guy works down the chip shop swears he’s Elvis
But he’s a liar and I’m not sure about you

 

The song rocks. It is a singalong karaoke delight, if that is your scene.

 

Many videos of the song can be found. By far the best features MacColl in a Top of the Pops situation, with a cast of scores of hang-abouts all dancing along and a backing band that includes a rake-thin, excitedly exuberant Billy Bragg, Dave Edmunds (I think) on guitar, a honky tonk piano and a couple of blokes wearing humungous cowboy hats. All having fun.

 

 

 

 

MacColl’s deadpan, droll delivery and her meaningful, sideways glances towards the camera lens are brilliant.

 

There is also a slower country version.

 

Kirsty MacColl’s flame burned brightly but briefly. In 2000 she was killed in tragic circumstances while on vacation, diving with her sons on a coral reef near the island of Cozumel, off the coast of Mexico. She was 41, one year younger than Elvis when he died.

 

I have no idea whatever happened to Rambo, or the bloke in Moana who looked like Elvis.

 

 

 

More from Peter Crossing can be read Here.

 

Read more stories from Almanac Music  HERE

 

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