"Dagenham Dave" is a song by

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...

, released as a single in August 1995, a week prior to the release of '' Southpaw Grammar''. It was Morrissey's first release on RCA, the label he had signed to after leaving EMI. This was the second Morrissey solo single not to feature the singer on the cover, instead English football coach and former player Terry Venables is pictured sticking out his tongue. Venables was born in

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

. The promotional video for the single featured former '' Grange Hill'' actor Mark Savage as the titular Dave.Goddard, Simon (2012) ''Mozipedia: The Encyclopaedia of Morrissey and the Smiths'', Ebury Press, , p. 88 The single reached number 26 on the UK Singles Chart. It is not related to the song of the same name by The Stranglers, from their 1977 album '' No More Heroes''. "Dagenham Dave" is also naval slang for someone who is somewhat unstable or crazy, Dagenham being close to Barking ("barking mad").Jolly, Rick (2011) ''Jackspeak'', Conway, , p. D-127

Track listings

All tracks by

/ Alain Whyte.

7": RCA / 29980 7 (UK)

# "Dagenham Dave" # "Nobody Loves Us" * also available on MC (29980 4)

CD: RCA / 29980 2 (UK)

# "Dagenham Dave" # "Nobody Loves Us" # "You Must Please Remember"

Reviews

'' NME'' gave a negative review, saying that this single showed that "Morrissey has become the embarrassing incontinent grandfather of Britpop". The song was described as "piss-poor old crap" and a "tune-impaired three-minute drone". Ned Raggett of AllMusic described it as "the least distinct song on the whole album". However, in other reviews, the opinion was that the song was "very good". It was a unique style which Morrissey had embraced during the height of the Britpop era.NME Dagenham Dave Review
/ref> In his book ''

Mozipedia Simon Goddard (born Cardiff, 21 December 1971) is a British author and music journalist. He was born in Wales, later moving to Scotland. Though a writer by profession, Goddard originally went to art school in Carlisle, then Hull, and briefly c ...

'', Simon Goddard called it "a mettlesome pop cartoon featuring, if nothing else, the greatest utterance of the word 'pie' by any singer in the entire history of recorded music."

Musicians

* Morrissey: lead vocals * Alain Whyte: guitar * Boz Boorer: guitar * Jonny Bridgwood: bass * Spencer Cobrin: drums

Live performances

The song was performed live by Morrissey on his 1995 and 1997 tours.

References

{{authority control Morrissey songs 1995 singles Songs written by Morrissey Songs written by Alain Whyte Song recordings produced by Steve Lillywhite 1995 songs RCA Records singles