I was crippled as a teenager and ended up very angry in a wheelchair in 1975. This was the first song I heard that I really identified with. A great fuck you to all the walkie talkies... Still love it today

The difference between then and now...the interviewer let him speak and make his point!

What a gentle, lovely man. He is missed.

"Forgive us our Westminsters, for we forgive those who Westminster against us"  
Superb. Cheers Mr Dury!

I saw him sing this live in London in the early eighties and there was a bunch of guys in wheelchairs at the front screaming the chorus at the top of their lungs. Sometimes you've got to forget your knee-jerk reaction and understand when a message is coming from the heart.

I've got Asperger's, so I'm legit Spasticus Autisticus, and I ain't even remotely offended by the song. I bloody love it!

The guy was ahead of his time. He challenged the unwritten rule that disabled should be seen and not heard.
For goodness sake they should never actively protest and make the “normal” uncomfortable. Love ya man

A sad loss when Ian Dury died.

Ian Dury, will never fade for me, a true true person unto himself, with all the good bits, and all the bad bits thrown in, unadulterated talent in its rawest form , fantasticus musicus

Ian said this about the song:
“I’d written this in the Year Of The Disabled”. I as going to start a band called Spastic & The Autistics, because the word ‘spastic’ is a swear word. There was that girl group Bananarama who used to talk about “Spazz Dancing”. Their ignorance is their own affair. I wanted to do something for the Year Of The Disabled so I wrote ‘Spasticus Autisticus’ knowing it would be unacceptable to the BBC. They banned it as they did ‘Wake Up And Make Love To Me’ and ‘ Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll’. They actually don’t BAN it. They just don’t play it. Apparently you could only play it after dark, with written permission. I did about 140 interviews related to the song that year. It was a war cry for my brothers and sisters who are disabled. Only a spastic could understand that. It’s not describing a condition. It’s just being spirited”

Genius..and i quite enjoyed the comprehensively unhysterical flannelled balanced presenter.

If anyone had a right to sing about disabilities, it was Ian Dury.

Ian's a bloody champion. The peoples poet. He always was and always will be a musical hero to me.

Ian is a very natural honest speaker. This is an excellent interview!

I'm autistic and I love it! And the song LOL

Ian you were a true legend. If only we had more like you.

And in full circle it was sung by disabled people at the Paralympic Games opening ceremony in 2012. A fitting tribute to his brilliance.

Music is Art, and Art should never be censured, if a man who has lived through an age where disabled people were openly abused, has the bravery to challenge preconceptions, then the problem lies with the one's who are offended, not with the message.

Love the bus driver's prayer at the end, brilliant! Never a dull moment with the great Ian Dury. Bloody shame he died so young.

From one Polio Spaz to another
RESPECT IAN!!!!  You  make me smile from ear to ear.