THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

607-The Stranglers-Duchess.

1979-Number 14 single.

Best Bit-At 1.33. Don’t take offence if your name is Rodney.

The Stranglers were formed in Guildford, Surrey, England, in 1974, by Jet Black, (1938-2022) (real name, Brian Duffy) (drums) who was joined by Hugh Cornwell, (vocals, and guitar) Jean-Jacques Burnel, (bass) and Hans Warmling (1943-1995) (keyboards.) Warmling left the group to return to his home country of Sweden within a year, and was replaced by Dave Greenfield, (1949-2020) (keyboards.) Hugh Cornwell left the band in 1990 to pursue a solo career, and was replaced by Paul Roberts, (vocals) and John Ellis (guitar.) The Stranglers, who originally started out life as ‘The Guildford Stranglers,’ were at first a ‘Punk Rock’ group, but have experimented with other musical genres over the course of their Albums, and remain active at the time of writing, with Jean-Jacques Burnel being the groups one constant.

The discography of The Stranglers includes 18 studio Albums released between 1977-2021, and 41 singles released within the same time period, there are also 28 official compilation Albums, and 16 live Albums available. In the UK, 13 of The Stranglers Albums have reached the top 40, with both ‘No More Heroes,’ (1977) and ‘Black and White,’ (1978) both peaking at Number 2. On the UK top 40 singles chart, The Stranglers have had 23 hits, with ‘Golden Brown,’ charting the highest at Number 2 in 1982.

Jet Black, a founding member of The Stranglers was born Brian John Duffy, on August 26th, 1938, in Ilford, Essex, England, he died from respiratory problems, on December 6th, 2022, at the age of 84. Prior to co-founding The Stranglers, Jet Black was a successful businessman, owning a fleet of ice cream vans, and an off-licence. In the mid 1970’s he decided to become a full time musician, and first met Hugh Cornwell of the band ‘Johnny Sox,’ after reading an advertisement in the British music weekly magazine ‘Melody Maker.’ Jet Black and Hugh Cornwell would work together in The Stranglers until Cornwell left the band in 1990, it is said that following the split, the pair did not keep in touch. Jet Black was The Stranglers drummer, and it was announced in 2007 on the groups website that he was was suffering from atrial fibrillation, (abnormal heart rhythm) and therefore would have to take a break from touring. He would perform sporadically over the next 11 years, before retiring in 2018.

Hugh Alan Cornwell, was born on August 28th, 1949, in Tufnel Park, North London, England, since leaving The Stranglers he has released 10 solo studio Albums between 1988-2022. Cornwell began his music career in the 1960’s playing bass in a band with Richard Thompson, who would later become a member of the Folk Rock band Fairport Convention. In the late 1960’s he moved to Sweden to study chemistry at the ‘Lund University,’ which was where he formed the group ‘Johnny Sox,’ who on returning to the UK in 1974, would eventually become The Stranglers. Hugh Cornwell has acted in a number of productions, in the early 1980’s he appeared in ‘Charlie’s Last Stand,’ with Bob Hoskins (1942-2014) at the Almeida Theatre, London, he has also appeared in the 1987 Peter Richardson directed film, ‘Eat the Rich,’ which was part of the award-winning BBC ‘Screen Two’ series, the successor to ‘Play for Today.’ Cornwell is also the author of six books between 1980-2020, including ‘Inside Information,’ (1980) which tells of the time he spent in ‘HM Prison Pentonville’ for drug possession, and ‘The Stranglers – Song by Song,’ (2001) which guides the reader through all of The Stranglers back catalogue.

‘Duchess’ was the first of three singles released from The Stranglers fourth studio Album ‘The Raven,’ from September 1979, with the songwriting credited to The Stranglers, and the production credited to The Stranglers, and Alan Winstanley (see also best songs 913 and 69.) ‘Duchess’ is a song about a girl who claims to be an heiress, but she has hit on hard times. She knows all of her family history, saying she descends from King Henry V111. When she was well to do, men from the lower classes would attempt to raise their profile by trying to court her, these chancers are known as ‘Rodney’s,’ of whom her parents would strongly disapprove.

‘Duch of the Terrace never grew up, I hope she never will. Says she’s an Heiress sits in her Terrace, says she’s got time to kill, time to kill. And the Rodney’s are queuing up, God forbid, and they all want to win the cup God forbid.’