Former XTC frontman Andy Partridge took to Twitter this morning to declare his irritation with fans — or, rather, “wankers” — waking him up at night by chanting the lyrics to “Making Plans for Nigel,” the very popular 1979 single for the band that he neither wrote nor sings.
In his tweet, Partridge says he wishes these nocturnal visitors would instead “find the house of the writer and singer for once, and not disturb the rhythm guitarist every time.” While Partridge came to be seen as XTC’s leader, he didn’t write or sing lead on all of the band’s songs. In this case, bassist Colin Moulding handled those duties for “Nigel,” the lead single off Drums and Wires.
I do wish that the wankers who chanted “Making plans for Nigel” outside my house last night, waking me, would find the house of the writer and singer for once, and not disturb the rhythm guitarist every time.
Arseholes.— XTC (@xtcfans) October 14, 2018
In some back-and-forth with followers on Twitter about the late-night visitors, Partridge goes on to lament that the band has not been honored in its hometown of Swindon, England: “That’s the thing, if Swindonians are proud of XTC, they don’t show it in any official way. Other towns have streets named after artists, that sort of thing. I’m used to being ignored, and prefer it.”
Below, watch XTC perform “Making Plans for Nigel” on Dutch television.
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- XTC documentary ‘This Is Pop’ to receive U.S. premiere on Showtime in January
- XTC’s ‘Black Sea’ being prepped for reissue with new stereo, surround mixes
- Andy Partridge working to restore XTC’s ‘Oranges and Lemons’ for audiophile reissue
- XTC’s ‘Drums and Wires’ audiophile reissue to include new 5.1 mix, demos, rehearsal tracks
- Reissue of XTC’s ‘Skylarking’ with ‘corrected polarity’ finally coming to CD
Dear Andy: Ha ha!
— God
brilliant. done in one.
Nevermind those clowns from Swindon, the rest of the world loves ya.
Is he missing the point? Chanters might be taking the mick! Andy Partridge’s upset over record label’s preference for releasing Colin Mouldings more ‘commercial’ songs as singles has been well documented
Ay Andy
Do you fancy doing a bit of a rock project…
I prefer to be ignored, so here’s a post on the internet to hundreds of thousands of people.
Agreed, “The Andy doth protest too much, methinks.”
The cranky old sod is just having fun with this.
Singers and whingers always seem so unhappy unless they get to complain…
Singers and whingers always seem so unhappy unless they get to complain.
Why does Andy always seem so crabby? Who does he think he is, Morrissey?
Not quite. No tours to schedule and cancel due to alleged stagefright.
Andy, please see if you can convince the Dukes of Stratosphear to come out of retirement and put together a new album with Kevin Parker and/or various others in the Tame Impala/Pond constellation, or maybe give KP permission to see what kind of wizardry he could spin with covers of some Dukes of Stratosphear classics. Thanks.
Like a helicopter, instead
About damned time somebody made some plans for Andy. If Andy says he’s unhappy, he must be unhappy in his world.
Leave the guy alone !
He gave us all what he wanted to ,
Leave the guy fucking alone !
I love XTC and have all the material I could find by them. I don’t care who sang what, it was all good and musically, it was all exceptionally good. Andy is a great guitarist and so is Colin. They both have great voices and as a British band, I miss them greatly as I miss the original Dr. Feelgood, another brilliant British band and equally lacking in the recognition they deserved, both for their musicianship and the massive contribution to our musical history. Great shame that Andy suffered from stage fright but that’s not his fault and I don’t blame him for getting pissy with people harassing him. Andy is not like a lot of so called celebs who are fading from the limelight and will do anything to get media attention; he just keeps himself to himself. Like Neddy said, leave the guy alone. At least appreciate him for his contribution to music.
I re-he-hee-ally wouldn’t have thought there’d be that many “wankers” who even know who Andy Partridge is at this point in time, let alone who live anywhere near Swindon and would be up for travelling to sing Colin’s song outside his house at night.
Many XTC fans from back in the day will be retired by now and more likely be in bed zedding..
Probably happened once and he relives it constantly like everything else he ever did.
The guy’s a whinger and always has been.
Funny and talented, but a whinger