This track from School Playground (our 31st album) was one of the earliest tracks we transferred to You Tube. However, when I compared it to our previous 2 attempts to record this number (both of which are also available on this site) I realised the Hammond Organ part was missing along with 3 backing vocals and the final synthesiser part. How did this happen and why did I not notice it at the time we mixed it? Well, because this is one of the very best pop anthems I’ve ever written and because it is a tribute to one of the very best people on the planet, I decided to restore the missing organ, synthesiser and vocal parts. Thus this number is the only UNIT work to be recorded in 2 separate studios – Redchurch in London and DNA in Inverbervie. Eric deserves nothing less!
This is my homage to Eric Cooper, my mentor and teacher during my time in Amery Hill School (1977-1980). He beat up bullies and with fearless devotion to justice, he challenged the brutal assaults and daily humiliation inflicted upon us by the teachers of that vile school. He, his magnificent father and his splendid sister Karen constitute the greatest family this nation has ever produced - so there!
You adopted me when I had only turned fourteen.
You taught me to defend myself. You taught me to be mean.
You taught me mathematics and you taught me physics, too,
but most of all, you taught me not to ever mess with you.
Eric Cooper – ‘Killer’ Cooper – Eric Cooper – ‘Killer’ Cooper!
You were nearly the smallest boy of all those in our year
but it was you who all the other boys so quickly learned to fear.
You were almost the youngest boy of all those in our year
but the days I spent with you, made realise I was queer.
Eric Cooper – ‘Killer’ Cooper – Eric Cooper – ‘Killer’ Cooper!
You and Susan Wilkins battered bullies everywhere;
that’s why you and Susan clearly made a perfect pair.
Your mother died so horribly when you were only ten.
The pain you suffered then, I hope you never feel again.
Eric Cooper – ‘Killer’ Cooper – Eric Cooper – ‘Killer’ Cooper!
To your sister, Karen, I broke down and said ‘What shall I do?’
Thank God she never told anyone else that I fancied you!
You clouted me around the head; you thumped me on the ear
but you might have hit me harder had you known that I was queer.
Eric Cooper – ‘Killer’ Cooper – Eric Cooper – ‘Killer’ Cooper!
Your father was the nicest man who I had ever met
You sister never lost a fight – I bet she hasn’t yet.
Those weeks you let me live with you I won’t ever forget
but I never stopped to say goodbye and that’s my one regret.
Eric Cooper – ‘Killer’ Cooper – Eric Cooper – you were super!
Andy Martin – Vocals, Hammond Organ, Piano,
Yamaha Keyboard, Vibraphone, Moog Modular.
Fabian Fritze – Bass Guitar, Vocals.
Colin Murrell – Drums, Vocals.
Text & Music – Andy Martin.
Donations to our finances can be made ([email protected]) if you wish to support our future work.
In 2016 we released our 30th album (Fast – Clean – Cheap) and with it an era passed. We realised it is neither necessary nor desirable to continue to issue our work on compact discs. The process is expensive and time consuming (pressing CDs, printing booklets and tray cards, buying jiffy bags, going to the post office – it’s so 1990s) so now Band Camp exists, an avenue is presented by which we can release our work to the public directly. Our projects will be obtainable from this address:
http://unit-united.bandcamp.com.
The paypal address for our Band Camp and Lulu sites is [email protected].
In addition there are currently 12 books available.
01) Progressive Rock – The Music That Dare Not Speak Its Name.
02) Chinese Cinema 1905 – 2005.
03) Faded Fragments Of Distant Dreams (autobiography).
04) The Essays (science, history, politics and the arts).
05) The Workshop (dream diaries and cut-ups).
06) I Wish I Was Dead (autobiography).
07) Dare To Be Different (interviews and articles).
08) Not In Front Of The Children (a study of Grange Hill 1978 – 1993) with photographs, episode synopses, cast lists and a contemporary debate on the programme with a group of teenagers from a local housing estate plus a historical survey of children’s television drama 1960 – 1990).
09) Fast – Clean – Cheap (a collection of art, poetry, stories, essays and articles by various contributors including past and present members of UNIT).
10) My Very Brief & Unsuccessful Career As A Human Being (autobiography including a history of The Apostles, Academy 23 and UNIT).
11) Civil Disobedience (a collection of short stories for children).
12) Behind The Bike Shed (a novel for children).
These are proper books in print, not fake, ersatz ‘books’ you see advertised on the internet these days as ‘e-books’. They can be purchased from lulu.com. Type ‘Andy Martin – Grange Hill’ to locate them.
