Editing Ian Dury (section)

==Musical influences and style==

Dury's self-styling and chief musical influence was his hero since childhood, American [[rock and roll]] and [[rockabilly]] artist [[Gene Vincent]]. After hearing Vincent's hit single "[[Be-Bop-a-Lula]]" in the 1956 musical comedy film  ''[[The Girl Can't Help It]]'', he idolised him. Vincent also wore a [[leg brace]], although Dury said he did not know this until later. Vincent is mentioned in one of Dury's earliest songs, "Upminster Kid"<ref name=starkey2022>{{cite web | last=Starkey | first=Arun | title=Exploring the influence of Gene Vincent on Ian Dury | website=Far Out Magazine | date=12 October 2022 | url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-influence-of-gene-vincent-on-ian-dury/ | access-date=28 April 2023}}</ref> (on the 1975 Kilburn and the High Roads album ''[[Handsome (Kilburn and the High-Roads album)|Handsome]]''<ref>{{cite web | last=Erlewine | first=Stephen Thomas | title=Kilburn & the High Roads - Handsome Album Reviews, Songs & More | website=AllMusic | date=31 December 1969 | url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/handsome-mw0000595977 | access-date=28 April 2023}}</ref>),<ref>{{cite web | title=Song of the Day: Music About Other Artists (Day Five). Ian Dury on Gene Vincent: "But Your Leg Still Hurts and You Need More Shirts, You Got to Get Back on the Road". | website=Courtney's Sound World | date=29 May 2015 | url=https://courtneyssoundworld.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/song-of-the-day-music-about-other-artists-day-five-ian-dury-on-gene-vincent-but-your-leg-still-hurts-and-you-need-more-shirts-you-got-to-get-back-on-the-road/ | access-date=30 April 2023}}</ref> with the words "Well Gene Vincent Craddock remembered the love of an Upminster rock 'n' roll teen". Vincent had died four years earlier.<ref name=starkey2022/>

More well-known is the single "[[Sweet Gene Vincent]]" from his first solo album, ''[[New Boots and Panties!!]]'' in 1977. He wrote the lyrics after spending six weeks of research on Vincent, which included reading two biographies. His songwriting partner Chas Jankel had to trim it considerably, after Dury's original version, Jankel joked, "would have taken around 15 minutes to perform". The opening lyrics to the song were:<ref name=starkey2022/>{{blockquote|Blue Gene baby / Skinny white sailor, the chances were slender / The beauties were brief / Shall I mourn your decline with some Thunderbird wine / And a black handkerchief? / I miss your sad Virginia whisper / I miss the voice that called my heart.}}

Dury was a lover of [[music hall]], another of his heroes being [[Max Wall]]. Dury developed a unique style that mixed music hall with punk and rock and roll, and crafted an on-stage [[persona]] that entertained his audiences.<ref name=it2000>{{cite news | title=Mixing music hall with rock and roll | newspaper=The Irish Times | date=1 April 2000 | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/mixing-music-hall-with-rock-and-roll-1.262260 | access-date=28 April 2023}}</ref>

Dury's lyrics are a combination of lyrical poetry, [[word play]], observation of British everyday life, character sketches, and sexual humour: "This is what we find&nbsp;... Home improvement expert Harold Hill of Harold Hill, Of do-it-yourself dexterity and double-glazing skill, Came home to find another gentleman's kippers in the grill, So he sanded off his winkle with his Black & Decker drill".{{cn|date=April 2023}} The song "[[Billericay Dickie]]" rhymes "I had a love affair with Nina, In the back of my [[Ford Cortina|Cortina]]" with "A seasoned-up hyena Could not have been more obscener".<ref name=it2000/>