Hangover Square

Album: 1,2, Kung Fu (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Boy Azooga is a four-piece Welsh band lead by Davey Newington. This song from the quartet's debut album 1,2, Kung Fu was inspired by Patrick Hamilton's 1941 novel Hangover Square, which is about a drunkard's adventures in the days preceding Britain declaring war on Germany.
  • Newington was given the Hangover Square book by his father, a former violinist with BBC National Orchestra of Wales. "And now he plays the strings on that song, the singer told Q magazine, "it's wicked."
  • In Hangover Square, the protagonist, George Harvey Bone has a series of schizophrenic episodes, referred to in the text as "dead moods." Newington explained to Drowned in Sound that "the repetitive ending of the song is supposed to represent being trapped in one of George's dead moods."
  • There's a second song inspired by Patrick Hamilton's Hangover Square on our database. Check out Detroit punk band Protomartyr's track "Maidenhead."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

John Parr

John ParrSongwriter Interviews

John tells the "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" story and explains why he disappeared for so long.

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull

Ian Anderson of Jethro TullSongwriter Interviews

The flautist frontman talks about touring with Led Zeppelin, his contribution to "Hotel California", and how he may have done the first MTV Unplugged.

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The Kingdom

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The KingdomSongwriter Interviews

The Bush frontman on where he finds inspiration for lyrics, if his "machine head" is a guitar tuner, and the stories behind songs from the album The Kingdom.

Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go's

Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go'sSongwriter Interviews

Charlotte was established in the LA punk scene when a freaky girl named Belinda approached her wearing a garbage bag.

Bill Withers

Bill WithersSongwriter Interviews

Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."

Kristian Bush of Sugarland

Kristian Bush of SugarlandSongwriter Interviews

Kristian talks songwriting technique, like how the chorus should redefine the story, and how to write a song backwards.