Dagenham Dave?

N

NYC Ben

Guest
i saw 3 volumes of a video for sale called "dagenham dave" which is being sold as a new "british gay tv show". anybody ever see it? is it any good? wondering what the reference was and searching the web, i also found out there's a song by the stranglers with the same name on "no more heroes" (which i'll have to listen to again when i get home). so, who IS "dagenham dave" to have inspired at least 2 songs and a tv show?

i think i may finally know who "shakespear's sister" is, but any info on that reference is also appreciated!
 
> i saw 3 volumes of a video for sale called "dagenham
> dave" which is being sold as a new "british gay tv
> show". anybody ever see it? is it any good? wondering what
> the reference was and searching the web, i also found out
> there's a song by the stranglers with the same name on "no
> more heroes" (which i'll have to listen to again when i get
> home). so, who IS "dagenham dave" to have inspired at
> least 2 songs and a tv show?

I don't think he's anyone...I'm think it's kind of a "Joe Public" thing but area specific...I'm sure there are many "Daves" (considered to be a 'type' in England)in dagenham...you know blokes in pubs who are affable and everybody knows are usually called Dave...they can usually be found near the pub's quiz/fruit machine. But then I could, of course, be very wrong!

> i think i may finally know who "shakespear's sister"
> is, but any info on that reference is also appreciated!

Shakespear's sister is the title of an Essay by Virginia Woolfe (She drowned herself you know...in a river, with a big rock in her coat pocket to weigh her down!)
 
DAGENHAM DAVE

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Head in the clouds, and a mouthful of pie
Head in a blouse, everybody loves him
I see why

Dagenham Dave, Dagenham Dave
Oh, Dagenham Dave
Dagenham Dave, Dagenham Dave
Oh, Dagenham Dave

"I love Karen, I love Sharon" on the windowscreen
With never the need to fight or to question a single thing

Dagenham Dave, Dagenham Dave
Oh, Dagenham Dave
Dagenham Dave, Dagenham Dave
Oh, Dagenham Dave
Dagenham Dave, Dagenham Dave
Oh, Dagenham Dave
Dagenham Dave, Dagenham Dave
Dagenham Dave

He'd love to touch, he's afraid that he might self-combust
I could say more, but you get the general idea

Dagenham Dave, Dagenham Dave
Dagenham Dave, Dagenham Dave
Dagenham, Dagenham
Dagenham Dave, Dagenham Dave
Dagenham Dave, Dagenham Dave
Dagenham, Dagenham Dave
Dagenham Dave, Dagenham Dave
Oh, Dave, oh, Dagenham, dagenham
Dagenham Dave
Dagenham Dave, Dagenham Dave
Oh, Dave, oh, Dave, oh, Dave
Oh, Dave

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Nottingham Jon" has this to say about this song :
To understand what Dagenham is and what it produces would help a lot of people get a handle on this song at least, and if it could send one person back to SG with open ears then this is worth a go.

There are only two famous things to come out of Dagenham (an area to the East of London, very unglamorous).

1) Dudley Moore. Now I stand to be corrected but I do not think this song is about him.

2) Ford Motor Cars. Dagenham is home to a massive Ford Factory which produces the UK's most popular cars, the Escort (the chosen car of the so-called Boy Racer) and the Fiesta. And is by far and away the main source of employment in the area.

To prefix a song "Dagenham" immediately places it within a certain context. It tells us that Dagenham Dave is a working class, heterosexual male, works at Fords and drives a Ford Escort (the commonest car on the roads)

In an area with its fair share of unemployment, he has a job, has a car, has more than his share of women (Karen and Sharon) and need not worry where his his next meal is coming from.

There is a flip side to life in Dagenham, and there is a b-side to DD. "Nobody Loves Us", *Useless and Shiftless (Car workers work shifts) and Jobless* these people are what Dagenham Dave would be except "Everybody loves him". While the losers in NLU plead "make us tea.....give us our favorite jam", Dave has a "mouth full of Pie". *Dagenham Dave* is not about nothing as some people seem to think and it is beautifully complimented by *Nobody Loves Us*.

Hi,
Lurking about I came across this: http://www.oz.net/~moz/lyrics/lyricsin.htm
Stig O'hara that is so funny. Where are you from?
Bye
 
Dagenham Dave

I was going to say more or less the same as you, Marie. Dagenham is in the county of Essex, which became infamous in the get-rich-quick boom of the late Eighties as the home for all these flashy types who made a quick buck in the City. Essex boy / girl jokes were all the rage for about a week. Essex girls were all called Sharon or Tracy, and wore white stilletoes. And danced around their handbags in clubs called "the Roxy". Dave could also be Boyracer, as he races around the streets with his latest teenage girlfriend beside him, blaring out techno music on his too-loud stereo. Probably wearing a baseball cap as well.

By the way, I'm from the frozen north of England.

Stig
 
Re: Dagenham Dave

> Dave could also be Boyracer, as he races around the
> streets with his latest teenage girlfriend beside him, blaring
> out techno music on his too-loud stereo. Probably wearing a
> baseball cap as well.

And all of them collectively are nicely covered by The Ordinary Boys.

BTW isn't pig-faced posh spice from dagenham? That's not very posh now is it!
 
Re: nyc ben's Dagenham Dave?

her essay was called "A Room of One's Own." it talks about women not being able to write in earlier times because they couldn't afford to. women, woolf suggest need an income and space of their own to be able to write no matter how brilliant they are. in her essay she was suppose to write about women writers but talked a lot about whj there wasn't really any in earlier times because of their household duties, education, etc. the part of "shakespeare's sister" in heavily anthologized but is just part of her essay. in that part she comes up with a scenario that IF shakespeare had a sister as brilliant as he was she would not have survive or able to fully develop and realize her talent. it's just a little story of her learning in her free time from sewing and other chores and going off to the theatre and constantly having to prove herself and getting pregnant and killing herself blah blah blah...could this be more boring? if you like all those silly ideas about women and essays, woolf also wrote "professions for women" where she destroys coventry pathmore's "angel in the house."

cheers,
salome
 
Stig O Hara.

And you my boy better not be late today! Well, maybe you should. I have predicted you'll be late which is why it's 12:30 and I'm still in my pajamas. And I'm very cold - I've got goosebumpy legs and my feet have shrunk and they resemble little dinosaur paws.

LMC x

> I was going to say more or less the same as you, Marie. Dagenham
> is in the county of Essex, which became infamous in the
> get-rich-quick boom of the late Eighties as the home for all
> these flashy types who made a quick buck in the City. Essex boy
> / girl jokes were all the rage for about a week. Essex girls
> were all called Sharon or Tracy, and wore white stilletoes. And
> danced around their handbags in clubs called "the
> Roxy". Dave could also be Boyracer, as he races around the
> streets with his latest teenage girlfriend beside him, blaring
> out techno music on his too-loud stereo. Probably wearing a
> baseball cap as well.

> By the way, I'm from the frozen north of England.

> Stig
 
Re: I stand corrected.

> her essay was called "A Room of One's Own." it talks
> about women not being able to write in earlier times because
> they couldn't afford to. women, woolf suggest need an income and
> space of their own to be able to write no matter how brilliant
> they are. in her essay she was suppose to write about women
> writers but talked a lot about whj there wasn't really any in
> earlier times because of their household duties, education, etc.
> the part of "shakespeare's sister" in heavily
> anthologized but is just part of her essay. in that part she
> comes up with a scenario that IF shakespeare had a sister as
> brilliant as he was she would not have survive or able to fully
> develop and realize her talent. it's just a little story of her
> learning in her free time from sewing and other chores and going
> off to the theatre and constantly having to prove herself and
> getting pregnant and killing herself blah blah blah...could this
> be more boring? if you like all those silly ideas about women
> and essays, woolf also wrote "professions for women"
> where she destroys coventry pathmore's "angel in the
> house."

I take it you don't like Ms Woolfe very much? Mrs. Dalloway was pretty good.
 
Re: I stand corrected.

> I take it you don't like Ms Woolfe very much? Mrs. Dalloway was
> pretty good.
actually from what i've read(which isn't much) i like her very much. sorry if my post suggested otherwise. i was trying to be sarcastic but it didn't work because i did it badly! i don't think it's boring at all and i'm glad she destroys the image of women only being "angels in the house." i've also only seen mrs. dalloway which isn't saying much for myself...i liked it lots but i am very lazy. thanks for the response and if i ever get any free time i'll try and actually read the book.

viva morissey,
salome
 
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