"Gordon is a Moron" Jilted John (Graham Fellows)

Fellows first came to prominence as Jilted John, a character who had a hit single in 1978 that was named after his own alter ego. The single was performed in the aggressive, minimalist style of the then-prevailing punk style, but with poppier influences, somewhat akin to the Buzzcocks and "Up the Junction", a docupop song by Difford and Tilbrook of Squeeze written around the same time. The novelty hit was most memorable for its aggressive lyrics, sung out-of-tune, a first-person narrative of a bitter teenager named John whose girlfriend Julie had left him for another man named Gordon, "just 'cause he's better lookin' than me/just 'cause he's cool and trendy". John wails that "Gordon is a moron", a phrase that became briefly famous in Britain, along with "I was so upset that I cried all the way to the chipshop". The character of Gordon on the record sleeve was played by Bernard Kelly, who had met Graham in his drama club. He appears on the record singing the chorus as well appearing as Gordon on Top of the Pops. Bernard also wrote the chorus to the B side "Going Steady" which was originally released as the A side on Rabid Records.

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• john
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• alan
• cover song
• pete
• stephen
• duran
• acoustic
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• acoustic cover