MP3: Wilco – “I Wish I Were Ian Dury” (live, 1995) (link removed)

We’ve got a few reasons to post this old song now. First of all, it’s just great to hear some of Jay Bennett‘s guitar again. Secondly, with a new Wilco album coming up, it’s fun to remember Jeff Tweedy as a snotty young singer fronting a raucous rock and roll band. And also, there’s an Ian Dury biopic on the way. So hey…timely even.

But not a lot is known about the song. I downloaded it back in the halcyon days of Napster, Audiogalaxy, et al. Wilcobase refers to it as “Turn Around and Come Back to Me”, and shows it only ever being played four times, all between July and September, 1995. It’s not included in the Wilco lyrics archive. But someone posting on Via Chicago claims that Tweedy’s wife Sue Miller said it was “a jeff original that he started writing (probably AM or Anodyne era), but didnt finish. and every performance had different lyrics that were made up as he went.”

My attempt to decipher the lyrics after the jump…

Wilco – “I Wish I Were Ian Dury”

She left home in a hurry

She had to make it to the show

In Malmo* with Ian Dury

Nineteen seventy-four

Now she’s livin’ on the streets

She can’t take it anymore

She’s a-hurtin’ for me

She can’t take it anymore

Honey, won’t you be

My turn around and come back to me

Turn around and turn to me

‘Cause I won’t ever let you be

I know she’s just a kid

It doesn’t hurt anymore

She didn’t mean what she did

It don’t hurt no more

Honey, won’t you be

My turn around and come back to me

Turn around and turn to me

‘Cause I won’t ever let you be

Now her cheeks, they’re in a chunk

She can’t take it anymore

Why’d she leave me for some punk?

I don’t care anymore

She left home in a hurry

She had to make it to the show

Malmo* with Richie Furay

Nineteen ninety-four

Honey, won’t you be

My turn around and come back to me

Turn around and turn to me

‘Cause I won’t ever let you be

* Wilco played Malmo, Sweden on 1995-06-26.

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Doh! GLONO got its first-ever takedown notice. We never post questionable MP3s, so this is weird for us. We had thought Wilco was cool with live taping, trading, sharing, etc.

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