Up the Junction Lyrics
I never thought it would happen
With me and the girl from Clapham
Out on a windy common
That night I ain't forgotten
When she dealt out the rations
With some or other passions
I said, "You are a lady"
"Perhaps," she said, "I may be"
[Verse 2]
We moved into a basement
With thoughts of our engagement
We stayed in by the telly
Although the room was smelly
We spent our time just kissing
The Railway Arms we're missing
But love had got us hooked up
And all our time it took up
[Verse 3]
I got a job with Stanley
He said I'd come in handy
And started me on Monday
So I had a bath on Sunday
I worked eleven hours
And bought the girl some flowers
She said she'd seen a doctor
And nothing now could stop her
I worked all through the winter
The weather brass and bitter
I put away a tenner
Each week to make her better
And when the time was ready
We had to sell the telly
Late evenings by the fire
With little kicks inside her
[Verse 4]
This morning at 4:50
I took her rather nifty
Down to an incubator
Where thirty minutes later
She gave birth to a daughter
Within a year a walker
She looked just like her mother
If there could be another
[Verse 5]
And now she's two years older
Her mother's with a soldier
She left me when my drinking
Became a proper stinging
The devil came and took me
From bar to street to bookie
No more nights by the telly
No more nights nappies smelly
Alone here in the kitchen
I feel there's something missing
I'd beg for some forgiveness
But begging's not my business
And she won't write a letter
Although I always tell her
And so it's my assumption
I'm really up the junction
About
“Up the Junction” is the eighth track and third single from Squeeze’s second LP, 1979’s “Cool for Cats,” A slice-of-life vignette set in the band’s native South London. It’s unique in that it doesn’t have a chorus, and instead uses key changes to its base progression to mirror the dramatic arc of its story. Co-songwriters Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook have cited Bob Dylan’s “Positively Fourth Street” as an influence on “Up the Junction.” The song peaked at No. 2 on the U.K., making it one of the highest-charting singles of the group’s long career. More recently, astute listeners might’ve noticed it playing in the background in the final scenes of “Gliding Over All,” the eighth episode of season 5 of the American TV series “Breaking Bad.”
The song’s title, also its final lyric, loosely translates to “up shit’s creek.” The title is borrowed from a 1963 short story collection by Nell Dunn which dealt with similar themes: working class life in Clapham Junction, casual sexual encounters, birth, abortion and poverty. While going on to be made into a play and a film, it was the subsequent 1965 TV adaptation by Ken Loach that is said to have inspired the song.
The song has no chorus; Chris explained this was because he and Glenn believed it would break the flow of the song to have repeated lyrics.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 1.Cat on a Wall (Missing Lyrics)
- 2.Model
- 3.All Fed Up
- 4.Sex Master
- 5.Bang Bang
- 6.Ain’t It Sad
- 7.I Must Go
- 8.The Knack
- 10.Elephant Girl
- 11.I Can’t Hold On
- 12.The Apple Tree
- 14.Footprints
- 15.Is That Love
- 16.Melody Motel
- 18.Up the Junction
- 19.Pulling Mussels (From A Shell)/Labelled With Love (Missing Lyrics)
- 22.Cold Shoulder
- 25.Third Rail
- 26.Hourglass
- 29.Tempted
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