Baggy Trousers

“Baggy Trousers” was the first single from Madness’ second album, Absolutely (1980). It peaked at number three in the UK charts and remains one of their most popular songs. The song came about as an attempt by (Madness singer) Suggs to write in the style of Ian Dury, and the vocal delivery in “Baggy Trousers” certainly seems to have a similar style to the Blockheads’ hits such as “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick”:

Madness – Baggy Trousers

This chart is one of three that I wrote in preparation for a gig I played with Suggs in 2018 (clang!), where he was guest of honour at a charity fundraiser. I knew we wouldn’t have the luxury of rehearsal, so I tried to do as much prep work ahead of time by making charts that (hopefully) capture the spirit of Mark Bedford’s basslines. Here’s how it looked:

I don’t think he was critiquing my playing in the photo, but it certainly looks that way. And the sunglasses were mandatory, I wasn’t going for the Joe Dart look.