Since reading this morning that the skeleton of English King Richard III had been dug up beneath a Leicester car park, I haven’t been able to get this song out of my head, off of Supergrass’ second and arguably best record, “In It For the Money.” According to Wikipedia:
In 1998, Q readers voted it the 68th greatest album of all time, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 57 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
What is this song about? Does the title refer to the man or the play by Shakespeare? Again, Wikipedia:
The song’s name comes from the band’s method of creating working titles for songs – giving them people’s names. This was the third called “Richard” and the band liked the reference to the king Richard III and the Shakespeare play Richard III in which the king is depicted as a dark and evil character, as it matched the menacing tone of the song. Neither the king, nor the play are mentioned in the song.
No matter. It’s a great song by a great rock band in their prime. Btw, if you’re a fan of Supergrass, I recommend getting Gaz Coombe’s solo album, Here Come the Bombs.
