"
Up The Junction", from the 1979 LP "
Cool For Cats", is probably my favorite
Squeeze song, but up until yesterday I had never actually googled the phrase. I was surprised to learn that "Up The Junction" is a 1963 collection of short stories describing dead-end, working class life in
Battersea, where the railway station
Clapham Junction is located. It was also adapted as a
play in 1965, as well as a
film in 1968. These would have been well-known cultural references in 1979 in the UK. Presumably the rather bleak story ("
The devil came and took me / from bar to street to bookie") told in the song is taken from the book, but I don't know for sure.
I don't recall Squeeze being famous in the US until a few years later, with songs like "
Tempted" and "
Black Coffee in Bed", but the compilation LP "
Singles -- 45s and Under" was standard issue in every dorm room during my college years. But somehow I waited until 2014 to learn the full context of this song...
Squeeze - "Up The Junction":
official video,
Top of the Pops,
live version (20xx?),
re-recorded 2010 version
Bonus link:
1965 BBC play
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