(Too Rye Ay)

The band, named 'Dexys Midnight Runners', refers to a drug (dexedrine) popular in the Northen Soul scene at the time when proud working class youth would play soul records brought over from America in halls at night and dance (usually in their own way). The drug Dexedrine, or colloquially "dexys", was often used as a "pep pill" or as a treatment for ADHD meaning that it really gave you energy hence the second part of the name 'Midnight Runners' dancing until the late hours of the night.

The band members at the time of the song releasing (1982 UK - 1983 US) were: Kevin Rowland as the band's frontman and lead singer, 'Big' Jim Patterson as Trombonist, Helen O'Hara as Fiddle player, Kevin 'Billy' Adams as Banjo player, Seb Shelton as Drummer and Pete Williams as Bassist. This song combines genres of blue-eyed soul, celtic/Irish folk and pop rock to create a sound so diverse it was incredibly hard to market to just one group.

The song begins with a smooth fiddle intro to set the expectations of the song of being a celtic/Irish folk tune, this is then followed by a confident bass and drum hook, short and sweet. Keeping the song at its original expectations the fiddle and piano joins in to create a melody over the repetetive, short beat making a very #identifiable beat and easy to dance to. Finally the banjo is added forming a more distinct and memorable tune introducing the lyrics which bring the classic 'toora,loora,toora,loo-rye-aye' which will become a key lyric in the chorus as well as the song title 'Come On Eileen'. Later on, 2:55 mins in, there is an (I think) amazing musical breakdown where the whole song pauses for a very brief second and starts up again this time a beat off what it was previously and brings in the classic lines all while slowly increasing in tempo, in my opinion this section especially completely smashes the expectations originally set at the start of the song and goes way above and beyond them. Then the song returns to what it was previously and ends (unless you listen to the acapella version which then afterwards continues on with Rowland singing solo).

I absolutely love how crafted this song is, from the rhythm to the way Rowland sings the lyrics - although hard to understand him. I think the fiddle at the beginning really adds something special and the epic breakdown in the middle makes the song unique to most other soul singles at the time. It blends music types beautifully into a smoothie of all music current of the time. However, I grew up with the song so I could just be biased.

FEB. 27 2026

This song is apart of the 1981 debut album titled "And Don't The Kids Just Love It" released by the band "Television Personalities" who at the time consisted of Dan Treacy (the only constant member) as a singer/songwriter, Ed Ball as bassist and Mark Sheppard as drummer. On the ablum cover is a reference to the 60s British espionage series "The Avengers" as Patrick Macnee (star of The Avengers) appeared on it. As well as Twiggy (Dame Lesley Lawson) who was a massive British cultural icon for modeling and later on acting in the swinging sixties of London.

They were influenced by the pyschedelic rock sounds of the 60s and the punk movement in the 60s-70s, casting them into the genres of post punk, rock, indie rock and psychedelic pop, and just like the movements before them their songs typically had meaning behind them even if the meaning wasn't as big as "anarchy for the UK". For example in this album the first track is "This Angry Silence"which talks about an angry father, a brother who has an eating disorder which no one recognises, a sister who a barmaid and is seen as the most emotionally stable and an alcoholic mother. The song attemps to convey the hardship life of the narrator within a dysfunctional family who refuses to do anything about it. Hence the awkward "silence" in the song after Treacy says the title, this angry silence.

I have been obssessed with Television Personalities for a while now, because I like how "dingy" and almost "grungy" Dan Treacy's vocals are and how it compliments the general sound of the rest of their songs. In this song I especially like the use of cockney slang ("jackanory" refering to the 1965-96 Britsh children's televison show Jackanory which told children's stories) and how it is used to emphasise the point Treacy was attempting to convey about writing advice and life while poking fun at the programme. I find this adds something distinct to an already unique sound.

DEC?.?? 2025

This song was released in the third album of the band, in 1982, "Midnight Cleaners" which had cover art hand-drawn by Martin Newell himself. When this album was made the band consisted of Martin Newell on practically anything you can think of, Mick Brannan playing the saxophone and, for the track "Only a Shadow", "Celia" sang additional vocals. The band, Newell especially, disliked the music industry, therefore they recorded with minimal, sometimes homemade equipment which lead to the imperfect sound of their songs. I think it is fair enough to put this band into the genre of post-punk (or better known today of lo-fi) with contributions made to neo-psychedelia, jangle-pop and indie-pop.

I really like this song mainly because of how the guitar sounds and how it works in the song as a whole. In my opinion the song sounds almost timeless in a sense that it could have been recorded in any decade, however that could be because they recorded everything themselves. I also appreciate how the lyrics tell a common story but it is phrased in a very poetic and vague way ( but that isn't really that surprising considering Newell has a relatively successful poetry career ). To me, the lyrics mirror the sound to create an unmistakeable noise and I strongly suggest checking out more their stuff.

DEC?.?? 2025