The pattern of work adopted by the pair involved Dury presenting Jankel with his hand-typed lyric sheets.

[citation needed] "That was the company's policy at the time: to go for fast sales on every single and then to delete it", Jankel recalled.

Although the single was banned by the BBC, a number of Radio 1 disc jockeys, including Annie Nightingale and John Peel, continued to promote the record.

The verses themselves are at times somewhat riddle-like, although always suggestive of an alternative lifestyle: Here's a little bit of advice, you're quite welcome, it is free Don't do nothing that is cut-price, you'll know what they'll make you be They will try their tricky device, trap you with the ordinary Get your teeth into a small slice, the cake of liberty Although the song made the phrase "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" more popular, it has been around at least since the late 1960s[5] and early 1970s.

Ian Dury and the newly formed Blockheads soon became the stars of the tour (it was surmised that Elvis Costello would be the main attraction, having had chart success) and the nightly encore became "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll".

It features four drummers and four keyboard players, plus vocals by Wallis, Wreckless Eric, Edmunds, Lowe, and Dury, and by the end (at 5 minutes and 22 seconds).

Variations of the phrase are often used in media: The opening lines of the song are sung in the introduction to "Ain't No Right" by Jane's Addiction