Marblehead Johnson
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| "Marblehead Johnson" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by the Bluetones | ||||
| B-side |
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| Released | 16 September 1996 | |||
| Length | 3:21 | |||
| Label | Superior Quality | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | Hugh Jones | |||
| The Bluetones singles chronology | ||||
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"Marblehead Johnson" is a song by English indie rock band the Bluetones, released as a standalone single in 1996. It peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart in late September 1996. It was also included on the band's 2006 compilation, A Rough Outline: The Singles & B-Sides 95 – 03. The song was primarily written by the bassist, Scott Morriss,[1] as a tribute to Bill Hicks.
The members of the Bluetones spent the day wearing full prosthetic fat suits. The usually skinny guys carry on regular band activities like rocking out, having a kick-around, going for a drive, walking, making tea etc., but now as four hundred pound men. Frontman Mark Morriss said their drummer Eds Chesters got the idea for the video while driving to play a gig in Ireland with Radiohead, suggesting it would be funny to apply the idea of a French and Saunders sketch where the two comediennes play big fat men, to a promotional video.[2]
Mark sports a Liverpool Football Club jersey over his padded fat suit. As well as donning the suits and masks, the boys also wore slip-on rubber fat hands to complete the illusion of them being overweight. Eds and Adam's suits also came with rubber man boobs and fat bellies that can only be seen briefly in the making-of featurette.[2]
Dom and Nic, who were responsible for the Bluetones' "Bluetonic" promo, also directed this video.
