‘Sex and drugs and rock and roll Is all my brain and body need Sex and drugs and rock and roll Is very good indeed’

Famous for his funny, provocative, visceral lyrics, Ian Dury was a rock-and-roll poet and legendary force on the London music scene from 1970 onwards. In the course of his unstoppably creative career, he studied art with Peter Blake, before turning his mind to music. When he teamed up with a band called The Blockheads, a new era in New Wave music exploded into being, as they turned out hits like ‘Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll’, ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’ and ‘Billericay Dickie’. Here, for the first time, are Ian Dury’s collected lyrics – not only material that was released, but also material that has been gathered by his daughter Jemima from old demos, song fragments and other sources that, until now, have remained hidden.

The renowned designer and artist Jake Tilson, who was also Ian Dury’s brother-in-law, has put the lyrics together with the original scrawled notes (complete with coffee stains), typewritten songs, and miscellany of scraps that inspired them. Hallo Sausages is arranged chronologically: the six chapters cover every phase in Ian Dury’s career from his early days in the seventies right up to his death in 2000. Each chapter is introduced by Jemima, who paints a warm, insightful, and humorous portrait of the man behind the outrageous words.