I Just Can't Be Happy Today

"I Just Can't Be Happy Today"
Single by the Damned
from the album Machine Gun Etiquette
B-side
  • "Ballroom Blitz"
  • "Turkey Song"
Released16 November 1979[1]
Recorded1979
GenrePost-punk
Length3:34
LabelChiswick
CHIS 120 Motown
CHIS 115
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
The Damned singles chronology
"Smash It Up"
(1979) 		"I Just Can't Be Happy Today"
(1979) 		"White Rabbit"
(1980)

"I Just Can't Be Happy Today" is a song by English punk rock band the Damned from their 1979 album, Machine Gun Etiquette. Released as a single in November on Chiswick Records, it peaked at No. 46 in the UK Singles Chart.

Production

The single was heavily edited for radio airplay, removing the spoken word monologue, though the version on the record is unaltered. The first track on the B-side, a cover of Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz", was recorded with Lemmy of Motörhead fame on bass guitar. "Turkey Song" was not credited on the sleeve.

Live performances

The Damned performed "I Just Can't Be Happy Today" alongside "Smash It Up" on the BBC2 television show The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1979, where they infamously trashed the stage towards the end of the song.[2]

Track listing

  1. "I Just Can't Be Happy Today" (Dadomo, Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Ward) - 2:53
  2. "Ballroom Blitz" (Chapman, Chinn) - 3:30
  3. "Turkey Song" (Scabies, Sensible, Vanian, Ward) - 1:32

Production credits

Producers
Musicians

References

  1. ^ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 56.
  2. ^ The Old Grey Whistle Test (DVD). Warner Home Video. 2003.


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