Some days, you just know your luck's in. For me it happens one evening recently as I'm driving down the A50 tense and paranoid about speed cameras, when through the crackly radio comes … the JCB Song.
It’s a delicious tune, and suddenly I'm calm and I'm relaxed, and I feel the world is all good again. Me being a long-time Staffie, and living just hops-skips-and-jumps from the JCB World Headquarters here in east Staffordshire, I’m thinking also that any band that can make a weirdly fun song around a big & clumsy yellow earth-digger like the fabled JCB is doing alright. The SongImagine if you can the simple, simple lyrics I heard then. They’re all about a small boy; and the story of the song is that this kid (Luke) and his dad are pit chugging along in his dad’s JCB along the highway - "I'm Luke I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce lee, drives me around in his JCB... Me and my dad having a top laugh". The Bruce lee thing comes clearer later, but suffice to say it's the kid's totally right feeling about life, films, and even transformer toys. As for the music of the song, imagine that it hits that acoustic, hip, lo-fi indie spot. Try to imagine James Blunt only without the deadening blandness, lack of credibility and dodgy tunes. Like James Blunt - without James Blunt. Maybe, if you really desperate for comparisons, compare it to an acoustic and unponderous Radiohead (hard to imagine right?) | "”For us to have a good gig, the audience needs to ... feel part of the band, like they're up on stage driving a JCB."" | | Nizlopi |
Even better, go listen yourself. The link's on the right hand side of this page. The band
Of course now I’ve heard it, I have to try find out more about the song and the band who perform it, which is really hard, cos even though this is going to be a monster hit, right now (i.e. at the time of my hearing it) it's smaller than a single spermatozoa on a reproductive horizon.
First stop in the search is the fabulously lovely, childishly attractive website, which is like a playpen for nerdy children. Turns out the band is a duo called Nizlopi from somewhere obscure in the South midlands, who are known for a relaxed attitude to the BIZ. In fact, in November (2005) their gig list includes the wonderful Borderline Club and, er, Balham Underground Station! In fact, I was told that The JCB Song was launched with the offer of a personal gig at the winner's house (though I can’t find the facts on this, sadly). Some facts that me laughOf course, I’m not denying that the fact that the song is set on a JCB is half the attraction for me. In Uttoxeter one of my favourites sights driving through has always got to be the big JCB pen (by the station roundabout), where dozens of JCBs are at rest - like a load of golden dinosaurs snoozing in a zoo on a quiet day. I also love it that The JCB song is not the first time that the excavators of my county have been given a top pop profile. Believe it or not, in 1958, Lenny Green recorded “JCB and Me”, while the Irish country-folk singer Seamus Moore likes to call himself ‘The JCB Man’. The internet is pretty uninformative about either of these pop giants, so if you have some info would you stick on the message board (a few lines down for this)? The biggest laugh of all is that when I went to buy it on a well-known sales website, and went to the JCB Song page, it tells you that: “Customers interested in this title may also be interested in... Supralift (special offers for Over 10,000 Used Forklift Trucks)”. I think Nizlopi would like that. Already I’m on their side, and I want this to be a Number one hit for Xmas. Release date is Dec 12th – let’s make a Big Yellow Staffordshire icon the nations’ favourite! | 
