166. Neat Neat Neat by The Damned

Damned neat neat neat supersonic 1977

The Damned put out the first UK punk album. It was just so bloody exciting! You felt like the walls of Jericho were coming down. I bought the album at Brashes and couldn't wait to get it home. And the first song was Neat Neat neat and it just ripped out of the speakers. I was in a band called Subway with me playing an acoustic guitar. I few weeks later I was writing songs like "Nothing To Do In The City" "Negative Fun" and "Play It At Your Sister" all cribbed from the English punk scene and ads and articles I'd read in NME. The Damned were my first template for punk rock writing. Quickly blown away by the Clash of course but for a while there they were the cat's pajamas. While some of their stuff is hard to listen to now Neat Neat Neat hasn't lost any power whatsoever. It's a stone cold classic. And so is New Rose of course.

be a man, kinda mystery man,

be a doll,be a baby doll,

it can't be found not any way,

it can't be found no way at all

a distant man can't sympathise,

he can't uphold his distant laws,

due to form on that today,

i got a feeling then i hear that call,i said

(chorus)

neat neat neat, you can't afford no cannon,

neat neat neat, you can't afford no gun at all,

neat neat neat, you can't afford no cannon,

neat neat neat, she ain't got no name to call,

neat neat neat