Back when I worked in radio, and before the death and subsequent revelations about Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile OBE KCSG, a colleague of mine who'd worked alongside him told us a number of disturbing stories about the famous TV and radio presenter. The one that sticks in my head was that if you did anything to upset Jimmy, you'd come in to work the following day to discover that someone had defecated in your desk drawer. There were all the other, even more disturbing, rumours too... but at the time, I took them with a grain of salt. Because how could someone in such a public role get away with that stuff without being exposed? That's the question we're still asking today, and though documentaries like A British Horror Story and the new Steve Coogan dramatisation, The Reckoning, attempt to answer that question... I'm not sure it'll ever be answered to our satisfaction.
I wondered how Jimmy had been represented in popular song prior to the scandal? Did anyone suspect? Well, these comedians had clearly heard the rumours. You might say it's no joking matter, but I'm betting each of them actually wanted his crimes to be exposed and were pushing it as far as they dared on television at the time. And of course, John Lydon was banned from speaking out...
Songwriters probably had to be more careful. Though you can read between the lines on this song by The Toy Dolls...
Jimmy lives his life for charity
Jimmy's got no wife just an O.B.E
Everybody depends on Jimmy
Jimmy's getting a little cheesed off
Jimmy says that they've all enough
If they want Jim - it's tough!
It's clear Mark E. Smith didn't have much time for the man either... but then again, did Mark E. like anyone?
Two hours!
With four left wing kids
I spent time in Nazi Fortress
Much discussion in room C-H-1-O-C-H-11
And Good King Harry was there
Fucking Jimmy Savile
Meanwhile, were Bentley Rhythm Ace dropping a hint in 2000?
Irish band Bell X1 released the following track in 2011, shortly before Jimmy's death and state funeral. I wonder if they still sing it as written?
I'll never have a salad at McDonald's
Or heed the call to monetise the arts
All those letters to Jim'll Fix It lay somewhere in a basket
And the other guy got to play with Adam And The Ants
There's not much evidence in the songs recorded before his death, to be honest. Afterwards though, the floodgates were opened...
Avalanche Party create "feral garage-punk from the wild North Yorkshire Moors, hopped up on adrenalin and amphetamines". And I'm pretty sure the song below is about Jimmy, not just because it mentions his old TV show...
A cool morning
Day breaking
Put a shirt on
This machine
He is fit
He is lithe
He’s the driver
Of your dreams
He’s a man
A man of means
He’s won trophies
He’s won teams
He’s a cancer
You’re just a pill
Completely powerless
Against his will
It used to happen all the time
All the time it used to happen
Only 16
Only 15
Only 14
Only 13
Another interesting discovery today: The Cool Greenhouse. who describe themselves as "music to lose scratch-cards to". Clearly Sir Jim haunts their dreams...
And sometimes when you close your eyes
There’s grinning Jimmy Saviles painted on your inner eyelids
Other times it’s Yoko Onos on treadmills
Stretching out into infinity
Both of the above acts channel the ghost of Jimmy into dark musical nightmares. The same can't be said for Mick Trouble, who crafts a lovely jangly pop song named after Jimmy's old TV show. Not quite sure why, this only came out last year, so surely he's heard?
And then we get to the Reid brothers, speaking for all of us...
I can't believe that I couldn't see
How many dodgy men were on the TV
While I was growing to a man
They took advantage of the fans
Now, when they re-run Top Of The Pops
Some of the hosts have got the chop
I'm sleeping soundly in my bed
'Cos Jimmy Savile's still dead
The most damning reaction to the whole Savilegate affair came from The Indelicates though, in my album of the year from 2017, Juniverbrecher. I reviewed it as the time thus:
The death of Little England through Brexit, parochialism and Saville. This staggering musical banishing spell urges hope.
It all begins in The Plaza Ballroom, Manchester, Christmas Eve, 1956...
These
These are the hours
They're the hours we'll remember
And so we will lie
When they ask what we knew
Of the crimes committed
While we were dancing
And then it erupts and corrupts Top of the Pops...
The full album is available here, and highly recommended. At least one good thing came out of this whole sorry business.
