Squeeze’s “Up the Junction,” released in 1979, “is an unusual song in that it has no chorus, and the title appears only in the last line.” (Songfacts). “When Chris Difford wrote it, the song had about 16 verses. Glenn Tilbrook, Squeeze’s other guitarist: ‘The lyric was a story that had no obvious repeats, and I thought it read perfectly well as it was. I was thinking of something like Dylan’s ‘Positively 4th Street‘ as a template when I wrote the music.’ Difford explained: ‘I imagined it would never be a hit and we’d have to take it off the album. And the record company said that they disagreed, and it was that second #2 record (after ‘Cool For Cats’)…’
‘Up The Junction’ is a British phrase meaning you’re screwed. In this song, a guy gets his girl pregnant, becomes a drunk, and is left on his own when the girl leaves him and takes the child. The song begins with the couplet I never thought it would happen/ With me and the girl from Clapham. Difford recalled to Q magazine: ‘I still can’t believe we rhymed that, but the language in the song reflects the way we used to talk to each other. Glenn’s is an extraordinary collection of chords and the riff is unforgettable. The first time we played it I remember thinking, God, this is great. It was everything I loved in music – Bob Dylan in a sweet wrapper.’
After a start in E major for the first group of the long collection of verses, the bridge arrives at 1:10, shifting to D minor halfway through (1:19). At 1:30, the next verse enters in D major before rising back to E major at 1:50.
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