The United Kingdom of Song #11: Blackburn

The Lancashire mill town of Blackburn was the birthplace of Tony Ashton from Ashton, Gardner & Dyke, Sarah Martin from Belle & Sebastian, Steve Pemberton from The League of Gentleman / Inside No. 9 and the great Ian McShane.

There's also a blues band called Blackburn... except they're from Canada.

Lyrically, Blackburn appears in Shut Up by The Fall...

...but Blackburn's a good...
Lil-lil-loo-hoo
...I know a sweater when I see one...
Lil-lil-loo-hoo

(Don't ask me to explain Mark E. Smith lyrics: I just copy & paste.)

But, of course, most of you will have guessed today's track as soon as you saw the headline.

Sgt. Pepper is... in my humble opinion... the most over-rated, and at times downright annoying, of all  Beatles albums. There was a brief period of time in my early 20s when I was hoodwinked by the muserati into believing the hype, but nowadays I'd rather listen to just about any other Beatles record all the way through. That said, there's no denying the power of A Day In The Life. One of the very best genuine Lennon & McCartney collaborations (John wrote the verses, Paul wrote the middle bit).

The final verse was apparently inspired by an article in The Daily Mail which revealed:

"There are 4,000 holes in the road in Blackburn, Lancashire, or one twenty-sixth of a hole per person, according to a council survey. If Blackburn is typical, there are two million holes in Britain's roads and 300,000 in London."

I've no idea if Blackburn Council ever responded to this, but it is certainly famous the world over - even today - for being a town full of holes.

Back to Scotland next week, for a tour of the Highlands. Nine different locations in one song! Any guesses?