"Chalk Dust – The Umpire Strikes Back" is a 1982

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

credited to The Brat and performed by British comedians

Kaplan Kaye Kaplan Eric Kaye (born 1949) is an English stage and screen actor, songwriter and musician, as well as a Past King Rat of the show-business charity the Grand Order of Water Rats. Biography Born in Watford, Hertfordshire, the son of actor and ...

and

Roger Kitter Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

. The song satirises tennis champion

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...

who was notorious for his

temper tantrums A tantrum, temper tantrum, lash out, meltdown, fit or hissy fit is an emotional outburst, usually associated with those in emotional distress, that is typically characterized by stubbornness, crying, screaming, violence, defiance, angry rant ...

. It reached number 19 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in July 1982.'What becomes of the one-hit wonders?'
– ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' Its B-side was a track named "Moody Mole" and the cover art was by illustrator

Graham Humphreys Graham Humphreys is a British illustrator and visual artist best known for producing film posters. During the 1980s, Humphreys worked with Palace Pictures, producing publicity material for films including '' Dream Demon'', '' Basket Case'', '' T ...

The song

"Chalk Dust – The Umpire Strikes Back" is a

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

of American tennis player

and lampoons his infamous angry behaviour on the tennis court to a

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

beat. The entire song is a conversation between McEnroe (played by

) and the referee (played by

). They bicker until the referee finally loses his patience and shoots McEnroe dead. The line "The ball's in, everyone can see that the ball's in!" was an actual quotation from McEnroe. The title is a pun on the film ''

The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic film, epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based o ...

'' (1980) and the tennis term

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

. Released on the

Hansa Hansa may refer to: Places *Hanseatic League, a 13th–17th century alliance of European trading cities *Hansa (shopping centre), in Turku, Finland *Hansa-Park, a German attraction park *480 Hansa, a main-belt asteroid, a minor planet orbiting th ...

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

, the single entered the UK Singles Chart on 10 July 1982. It reached a peak of number 19, and remained in the chart for 8 weeks. The song was also a Top 10 hit in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and a Top 20 hit in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sources

{{authority control 1982 songs 1982 singles Comedy songs Satirical songs Novelty songs Tennis music Cultural depictions of tennis players Cultural depictions of John McEnroe Hansa Records singles