Home » Music » Music Genres » 70's Music

Up The Junction by Squeeze

Ranked #4,173 in Music, #116,961 overall

Squeeze Up The Junction

Up The Junction was the first UK chart hit for Squeeze, an English band that hit the charts during the New Wave period of the late 1970s, and continued recording successfully in the 1980s and 1990s.

Squeeze formed in London in 1974, and are known for their hit songs Cool for Cats, Up the Junction, Tempted, Black Coffee In Bed, Pulling Mussels (From the Shell), and Hourglass among others.

The band broke up in 1999, but reunited for a tour of the USA and UK in 2007, the reunion being so successful that Squeeze now have dates for a 2008 tour of the USA in August (but unfortunately nowhere near Florida).

The band's founding members in 1974 were Chris Difford (guitar, vocals, lyrics), Glenn Tilbrook (vocals, guitar, music), Jools Holland (keyboards), and Paul Gunn (drums), with Gilson Lavis replacing Gunn on drums and Harry Kakoulli on bass in 1976.

Squeeze's early career was spent perfoming live gigs in the Deptford area of Southeast London, where they were part of a lively local music scene which included other new bands at the time including Alternative TV and Dire Straits.

Cool For Cats, their second LP which was released in 1979, spawned four hit singles, the first Up The Junction which was losley based on the 1960's cult film of the same name, then Cool For Cats, Goodbye Girl and finally Slap And Tickle. The first two of these both reached #2 in the UK charts, and between them brought about success worldwide for the band.

Jools Holland left the band in 1980 and was replaced by highly-rated singer-keyboardist Paul Carrack, a former member of the British soul-pop band Ace. In 1981 Squeeze released perhaps their best-known album, East Side Story. This was produced by Elvis Costello and Roger Bechirian, and featured Carrack's lead vocals on the radio hit Tempted. Carrack himself left after the release of East Side Story, and was replaced by Don Snow. This line-up recorded the Sweets From A Stranger LP in 1982. Negative reviews, the stresses of touring, and conflicts between band members led the band to break up later that year, after releasing a final single, Annie Get Your Gun.

I remember listening to Up The Junction and Cool For Cats and the radio stations were likening the sound to The Beatles. I used to love this band, still do, and it's a pleasure to create this tribute lens to one of their great hits, the song that first endered me to them.

Song Lyrics: Up The Junction by Squeeze

Written by: Squeeze from the Album: "Cool For Cats" - 1975

I never thought it would happen
With me and the girl from Clapham
Out on the windy common
That night I ain't forgotten
Where she dealt out the rations
With some or other passions
I said you are a lady
Perhaps she said I may be

We moved into a basement
With talks of our engagement
We stayed in by the telly
Although the room was smelly
We spent our time just kissin'
The Railway Arms we're missin'
But love had got us hooked up
And all our time it took up

I got a job with Stanley
He said I'd come in handy
And he started me on Monday
So I had a bath on Sunday
I worked eleven hours
And bought the girl some flowers
She said she'd seen a doctor
And nothing now could stop her

I worked all through the winter
The weather brass and bitter
I put away a tenner
Each week to make her better
And when the time was ready
We had to sell the telly
Late evenings by the fire
And little kicks inside her

This morning at four fifty
I took her rather nifty
Down to an incubator
Where thirty minutes later
She gave birth to a daughter
Within a year a walker
She looked just like her mother
If there could be another

And now she's two years older
Her mother's with a soldier
She left me with my drinkin'
Became a proper stingin'
The devil came and took me
From bar to street to bookie
No more nights by the telly
No more nights nappies smelling

Alone here in the kitchen
I feel there's somethin' missin'
I beg for some forgiveness
But beggin's not my business
And she won't write a letter
Although I always tell her
And so it's my assumption
I'm really up the junction

Squeeze CD's from Amazon

Squeeze were a breath of fresh air and produced so many great hits. Grab yourself one or more of their CD's today. You won't regret it.

Squeeze DVD's from Amazon

Treat yourself to music videos and live performances from this great band. Live the memories of the 80's all over again as you listen and watch in your own living room.

Squeeze Up The Junction Videos

Squeeze - Up The Junction: by SqueezeVEVO | video info

561 ratings | 189,504 views

automatically generated by YouTube

Squeeze In The News

Cool For Cats Records: Mercy – Sleepwalker (Free Download): Things were off to a good start for Cool For Cats, and the future looked bright; the future looked feline. However as we all more than familiar with now, the way people purchased and experienced music changed drastically. Downloading took sway, whether ...
Label Cool For Cats relaunches digitally, download track now: by Luke Slater [Edit this content] ? 5 comments 21:45 January 24th, 2012 Back in "the day" Cool For Cats was a label which had a singles club and released many 7" singles over a period of time, as you do. They included releases from the likes of ...
Ibiza: Cool for Cats: One of Ibiza's unsung small charities, Care4Cats, is to benefit from an auction of the works of one of Ibiza's top artists. Gary Hodges, who is based on the island, is one of the world's most respected (and selling) wildlife artists and has donated one ...
Mancio Cool For Cats Over Tevez Ahead Of Everton: With a resigned sigh and relaxed grin, Roberto Mancini fended off the latest Carlos Tevez questions from expectant hacks at today's pre Everton press conference... 'I don't want to talk about this situation. We have an important game tomorrow.

Squeeze Merchandise on eBay

CD's and DVD's at great prices, or maybe some other rarity to add to your Squeeze collection. Take a peek at what eBay has to offer.

My Collection Of Song Lyrics Lenses

If you enjoyed this lens, you might also enjoy my other Song Lyrics lenses. Take a peek at the links below and feel free to vote on them.

Up The Junction by Squeeze

Squeeze Up The Junction

Song Lyrics: Up The Junction by Squeeze

Written by: Squeeze from the Album: "Cool For Cats" - 1975

Squeeze CD's from Amazon

Squeeze DVD's from Amazon

Squeeze Up The Junction Videos

Squeeze In The News

Squeeze Merchandise on eBay

My Collection Of Song Lyrics Lenses

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

Please pick your widget size and display. Then click "Make the Widget" to get the code that's just right for you.

Voila! Just copy and paste this code into your own site. Have fun!

Oopsey! Please login to Squidoo in order to add this module to your lens.

Did You Enjoy This Lens?

If so, then why not share it with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or good old fashioned email, so that they can enjoy it too.

Music Fans Leave Your Mark

Meet Me On Facebook

About Poddys

Follow Me On Twitter

by poddys

Explore related pages

My Latest Articles

Tony Payne Writes On Yahoo Voices

Other Song Lyrics Lenses

Grab The Words And Sing Along

Squeeze Greatest Hits

Related Tags