I started writing it on the top deck of a 168 bus trundling along the Wandsworth Road on the way home from the last stupid job I had before I became a fully paid up (that's a laugh) recording artist. It was a cold, wet night in March 1977 and I was a table clearer in the cafeteria at Swan & Edgars department store in Piccadilly Circus.
I finished the song at home, sitting on the kitchen floor as I tried to light a fire with the smashed-up doors from the last of the landlady's wardrobes in my vast, furnished flat - the ground floor, 1 Melody Road Wandsworth SW18.
Soon after that I left the job, the weather improved and I signed on the dole for a while. I played the song to Ian Dury who was the drummer in my band, and we recorded it in a four track studio in Wimbledon on May 20th. I remember that because it was two days after my birthday. Ian produced it and Denise Roudette played the bass. Chaz Jankel helped Denise with the bass line and possibly suggested the key change at the end though that might have come from me or Ian. I was a bit resistant to the key change idea to start with because it meant that technically it wasn't a two chord song any more. And after Whole Wide World two chords was my trademark. But I think key change, or it might just be a modulation, is perfect.
We recorded the guitar, bass and drums together on three separate tracks and then mixed them down together onto one track to make way for the vocals. On the way the guitar got buried - we didn't realise this until I'd done the vocal, and by this time it was too late because we'd erased the original tracks. So I put another guitar on, and because it was only me in the live room I could turn the amp up full without it spilling into the drum mikes. So I got some feedback going. For years Ian was the only person who would tolerate me playing the guitar like that. Everyone else said it wasn't music. I think they were wrong. I love Semaphore Signals - I'm proud of it, and it wouldn't exist as it does without without Ian fostering our bohemien attitudes. And the happy-go-lucky days of four track recording!