THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

801-Madness-House of Fun.

1982-Number 1 single. When it was re-issued in 1992 it made Number 40.

Best Bit-At 2.06. I have it on very good authority from someone who should be in the know, that ‘Joe,’ is in fact a name check for the fictional character ‘Joe Sugden,’from the television soap opera ‘Emmerdale,’ but he may have been fibbing to me.

Madness (see also best songs 69) were formed in Camden Town, London, England, in 1976, and remained active through until 1986. The group reformed in 1992, and are still performing with six of the seven original members, who are considered to be the ‘classic line up.’ Madness released their debut Album ‘One Step Beyond,’ in 1979, and their latest, (at the time of writing) ‘Can’t Touch Us Now,’ in 2016. They have also released 43 singles between 1979-2019, and there are 16 official compilation Albums, and four live Albums available, as well as four box sets.

‘House of Fun’ is the only UK Number 1 single by Madness, and was the groups 12th single release in May 1982, it was released as a 7 inch single in order to promote the groups first greatest hits collection ‘Complete Madness,’ from April 1982. The Album version of ‘House of Fun’ fades out, but the full length single version is 11 seconds longer, and has a cold finish. ‘House of Fun’ was co-written by Mike Barson, (music) and Lee Thompson, (lyrics) with the production by Clive Langer, and Alan Winstanley. The story goes that ‘House of Fun’ was originally recorded under the title ‘Chemist Facade,’ without the ‘Welcome to the House of Fun,’ chorus. While the song was being recorded, the head of ‘Stiff Records’ Dave Robinson, insisted that the song should have a chorus, if it was to be issued as a single. The lead singer of Madness, Graham ‘Suggs’ McPherson claims that he came to the rescue, he has said,’I came up with the title, and wrote the chorus, but didn’t get credited! To this day I can barely mention the title onstage without wanting to throw up. It’s about the embarrassment of going to a chemist’s shop to buy a condom for the first time.

Both of the songs credited writers, are also both founding members of Madness. Lee Thompson who wrote the lyrics, was born on October 5th, 1957, in St Pancras, London, England, he is a multi instrumentalist, who is best known for playing the saxophone in Madness. Mike Barson who wrote the music to ‘House of Fun,’ was born on April 21st, 1958, in Edinburgh, Scotland, with Madness he is often seen playing the keyboards, or piano. It was Thompson, and Barson who originally formed ‘The Invaders’ in 1976, who later changed their name to ‘Madness,’ after the 1963 ‘Ska’ song by ‘Prince Buster’ (1938-2016) (see also best songs 734 and 139.)

‘House of Fun’ was co-produced by Clive Langer, and Alan Winstanley, who over the years have worked together on many occasions. Clive Langer was born on June 19th, 1954, in Hampstead, London, England. Prior to becoming a music producer he was a member of the British ‘cult’ band ‘Deaf School,’ before going on to join the British Punk band ‘Big in Japan.’ In 1982 Langer co-wrote the song ‘Shipbuilding,’ with Elvis Costello,’ and played the organ on the version by Robert Wyatt, that reached Number 35 in the UK in 1982. Alan Winstanley was born on November 2nd, 1952, in Fulham, London, England, prior to joining forces with Clive Langer, Winstanley had worked as an audio engineer on Albums by The Stranglers, Joe Jackson, and Generation X. For the other songs on this ‘1000 best list co-produced by Langer, and Winstanley (see best songs 913 and 69.)

‘House of Fun’ is a song is about coming of age. The lyrics tell the story of a boy on his 16th birthday attempting to buy condoms at a chemist. The UK age of consent is 16, and the boy makes a point of stating that he is ’16 today and up for fun.’ However, the boy is misunderstood by the chemist, as he asks for the condoms, using slang euphemisms, such as ‘box of balloons with a featherlight touch,’ and ‘party hats with the coloured tips.’ The confused chemist behind the counter eventually informs the boy that the establishment is not a joke shop, and directs him towards the ‘House of Fun,’ which is a joke shop further down the road.

‘Party hats, simple enough clear, comprehend savvy understand, do you hear? A pack of party hats with the coloured tips, too late, Gorgon’s heard gossip. Well hello Joe, hello Miss Clay, many happy returns from the day.’