Bloody Well Right

Album: Crime Of The Century (1974)
Charted: 35
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Songfacts®:

  • "Bloody Well Right" was Supertramp's first charting hit in the US, while it failed to chart in the UK. One theory on why the song didn't chart in their UK homeland has it that Brits were still offended by the adjective "bloody" in 1975. These days it is considered a mild expletive at best all around the world.
  • Written by Supertramp leaders Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, Davies sings lead on this one. The song deals with youthful confusion, class warfare, and forced conformity in the British school system (kind of like Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall (part II)"). This anti-establishment take was a theme of the album.
  • The song has a unique structure, with a 51-second piano solo at the start that meanders around, playing the "Locomotive Breath" trick of starting out vaguely recognizable and giving people plenty of time to guess who and which song this is before the more familiar parts kick in. Then a grinding power guitar riff thunders by, making you think this is going to be heavy metal. Nope, guess again - the light piano and suddenly chipper lyrics on the chorus take us back to pop rock.
  • "Bloody Well Right" is actually an answer song to the previous song on the album, "School." Crime of the Century is a concept album that tells the story of Rudy. In "School," Rudy has lamented that the education system in England is teaching conformity above education (boy, Rudy, you should see America). In "Bloody Well Right" he joins a gang believing them to be the organized resistance that he longs for; instead, they're basically apathetic punks who mock him for his higher aspirations. It's not that Rudy's wrong, it's that Rudy is galvanized by something that is common knowledge to everyone else. Hello, Occupy Wall Street? We have your theme song!

Comments: 4

  • Bill from UsI always daydreamed that Roger Waters wrote Another Brick in the Wall because of this song! It came first.
  • D. Dodge Silver from Wichita, KsIt was a B-side in the US, too. It was just preferred over "Dreamer." I'd prefer a root canal over "Dreamer," so that's understandable.
  • Dave from Wheaton, IlWLS radio used the instrumental open for public service announcements.
  • Zabadak from London, EnglandAnother reason this didn't chart in the UK was that it wasn't released as a single! It was the b-side of Dreamer!
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