Hanging Out a Window

The story behind the title and the lyrics to the song

(Alastair Sim in the 1951 film Scrooge)

Tomorrow sees the 1st anniversary of the Hanging Out a Window column. Since its launch I have been asked a few times about the origins of the title.

When I first started planning this weekly Substack and thinking about a name I imagined using something from a song - knowing I would be writing quite a bit about music - that might suggest my intention of writing about things I care about and want to share as well as the serendipitous nature of what might be in it on any given week.

I considered a number of songs by favourite artists and bands but couldn’t really come up with anything that worked. I also worried about potential copyright issues.

Then I thought about the songs I wrote when I played in bands in the 1980s. Pretty quickly Hanging Out a Window presented itself, encapsulating the sense of picking up on what is passing by, reflecting on it and - for want of a better phrase - broadcasting about it. The picture above of Alastair Sim from the 1951 film Scrooge (yeah, I know I am inviting the inevitable comparisons) seems to do the same.

The last band I played in was called The Committee. I was mostly on drums but would also occasionally step up front to sing and play rhythm guitar. One of the later songs I wrote was called Hanging Out a Window. It was actually co-written with my fellow band member Adrian Bebbington who wrote the music to which I supplied the lyrics. I put it in that order because the genesis of the song was a guitar riff Adrian had to which he would repeatedly sing the single line “I’m still waiting for you”.

We would jam around to its Bo Diddley-esque rhythm and I got to thinking about putting some lyrics to it, wondering who was waiting for whom and why?

I came up with a scenario: a bloke living in a bedsit in Kilburn (with its strong Irish and other immigrant community) waiting for the love of his life to return but not knowing (or maybe he does) if she ever will. In my mind she doesn’t, but feel free to think otherwise. It became something of a short story or play in lyric form.

What was surprising to me when preparing this column was that I couldn’t find the lyrics written down anywhere (it is also one of the few Committee songs where there isn’t a recorded version on demo or live). Equally surprising was how quickly I was able to write down the lyrics from memory after some forty years.

Hanging Out a Window

Stuck two flights up in Kilburn

with a half-made bed and a half-washed sink.

And they’re crashing out in Cricklewood

and I’ve run out of drink.

So, I’m hanging out this window

whistling down at Jack:

“Throw up that bottle of Jameson’s,

my Mary’s coming back”.

I’m still waiting for you.

I’m still waiting for you.

Jimmy’s crying on the stairs

keeping everyone awake.

It’s his forty-second birthday

and no one made a cake.

So, Pat comes down in her dressing gown

and holds his shaking head.

Goes to wipe his face with the end of her sleeve

but then kisses him instead.

I’m still waiting for you.

I’m still waiting for you.

There’s a Polish guy who lives downstairs

who always plays trombone.

But he’s never got an audience,

he prefers to be alone.

And when it all gets too much

I hammer on the floor.

But he shouts back “I don’t play requests!”

and blows on as before.

I’m still waiting for you

I’m still waiting for you.

Lyrics by John Earls

(Flyer for The Committee, 1985)