Bloody Well Right – Challenge #182

‘Bloody Well Right’ was written by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson and this song became Supertramp’s first charting hit in the US reaching #35 on the charts.  It was recorded on their Crime Of The Century 1974 album.  Supertramp was a progressive rock band that formed in London in 1970, but ‘Bloody Well Right’ failed to chart in the UK, and it is thought that the British were offended by the adjective “bloody” in the title, as it has been considered to be a swear word over there since at least 1676.  These days it is considered a mild expletive at best all around the world, but a few years back, it was only used by people who were thought to be in the lower class, and anyone respectable considered it to be a horrid word.  Some people referred to this as a concept album. but Roger Hodgson said that other than a deliberate connection between the song ‘School’ and the first line of ‘Bloody Well Right’, there was never any intention to link any of the songs together.  Crime of the Century deals loosely with themes of loneliness and mental stability, and ‘Bloody Well Right’ starts with the line “So you think your schooling is phoney.”  ‘School’ is a song that tells the story of Rudy who has lamented that the education system in England is teaching conformity above education.

Supertramp was one of the most popular British acts of the ‘70s and ‘80s, topping the charts and filling arenas around the world at a time when their style of music was supposed to have fallen out of fashion.  Davies sings lead on this one with Roger Hodgson playing bass, Richard Palmer was the guitarist and Richard Millar played drums.  Davies and Hodgson rebuilt Supertramp in 1973, bringing in new members Dougie Thomson on bass, Bob Siebenberg on drums and John Helliwell on saxophone and woodwind instruments.  This edition of Supertramp boasted a more concise and pop-oriented sound than what the band recorded on their first two albums.

The song is a response to a rant from a confused youth, and it matches the anti-establishment theme of this album.  The youth Rudy complained about his school subjects and the class differences and monetary status that made his learning difficult and the singer of this song agrees, telling him that he has a right to complain.  He goes on to say that although Rudy has this right to express his opinions, that he really doesn’t care, because these are not his problems.  He tells Rudy to write down his problems giving all of the details and that he should take them to a higher place.  He was letting Rudy know that he does not have the ability to solve any of these problems and he is getting tired of listening to all of his complaining.  So since he has already vented about his issues, it is now time for him to shut his face.

‘Bloody Well Right’ comes very close to being hard rock, but I have also heard it describes as funky Blues and it features a funny wah-wah guitar solo, some relax rhythmic piano & saloon piano and a couples of excellent sax solos in it.  The song has a unique structure, with the album cut starting out with a 51-second piano solo and this unusually lengthy instrumental introduction adds a unique distinction to it by not allowing the audience to be able to determine what song this will become.  It makes it vaguely recognizable and it would be very difficult for a contestant on the American television music game show Name That Tune, which was a name-the-song-title trivia game to distinguish what song this is going to be.  It gives people plenty of time to guess which song will be played before the more familiar parts kick in.

So you think your schooling’s phony
I guess it’s hard not to agree
You say it all depends on money
And who is in your family tree

Right (right) you’re bloody well right
You got the bloody right to say
Right, you’re bloody well right
You know you got a right to say

Ha, ha you’re bloody well right
You know you’re right to say
Yeah, yeah you’re bloody well right
You know you’re right to say
Me, I don’t care anyway!

Write your problems down in detail
Take them to a higher place
You’ve had your cry, no, I should say wail
In the meantime hush your face
Right (quite right) you’re bloody well right

You got the bloody right to say
Right, you’re bloody well right
You know you got a right to say

Ha, ha you’re bloody well right
You know you’re right to say
Yeah, yeah you’re bloody well right
You know you got a right to say

You got the bloody right to say
You got the bloody right to say
You got the bloody right to say
You got the bloody right to say

 

The challenge today is to focus on this song and use it for a short story, a piece of flash fiction, or a poem that you can share with the WordPress writing community.  There is no need to stick with this song, as if you like to write about another Supertramp song, or a song from any of Roger Hodgson’s solo albums, or a song by David Gilmour from Pink Floyd because he recorded with them in1987, or you could go with any song by Right Said Fred, or The Left Bank.  You could write about how you argued a point just to prove that you were right and the other person was wrong, or your desire to be right, or how you used supporting evidence or knowledge to promote your ideas.  Maybe you could write a post about the current problems in the education system like Classroom Size, Poverty. Family Factors, Technology, Bullying, Student Attitudes and Behaviors, No Child Left Behind, Parent Involvement, Student Health, or Funding.  If you would like to write about when you told somebody to shut their face, or their pie hole, that would make an interesting post.  You could write about being tired of listening to other people complaining, especially when there is nothing you can do to resolve their issues, or write about a song that is associated with crying.

The whole point of this MM Music challenge is to get you to think, to trigger something so that you can show how creative you are and everyone is welcome to participate.  This challenge is very loose, so pretty much whatever you come up with will be acceptable.  I try to throw some ideas out there for you and if they seem right, then go with it.  You could write about what the word “bloody” means to you, or any other English phrase.  Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie brings you a dose of fetish, good friends and an incomparable muse and next Friday Dylan Hughes will be here on May 21 with her First Line Friday.  I will be back on Friday, May 28 with another MM Music Challenge where we will discuss the song ‘Because’.  You can either create a ping back to this post, or place your link in the comments section below.