This song was written by Geoff Stephens and John Carter as Semi-Detached Suburban Mr Jones. As it became the first single issued by Manfred Mann after Paul Jones departed to be a solo artist and film star, the title and lyric had to be changed so the song wasn’t taken to be a dig at him.
The band's new singer was Mike d’Abo, who who added further possible confusion by looking rather like Jones.
I remember liking this song when it came out – I was six.
The Manfreds are playing De Montfort Hall on 30 October - or at least Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness will be... not sure about Mike d'Abo as he only does occasional gigs with them these days.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information.
Delete