Lyrics
When I was just a kid way back in my hometown He played all day, he played all night How long? how long? Well his eyes are rollin' and he can't even speak People would come and the people would go He played all day, he played all night How long? how long? Well his eyes are rollin' and he can't even speak [fade] |
Songwriters
Gerry RaffertyReview
'Syncopating Sandy' Strickland was a bandleader from Bolton who made his name in the 1950s as an endurance piano player, travelling the country trying to set records for playing the piano without a break.
And the crowds turned up in their hundreds to watch him perform. It is said he undertook 500 of these stunts.
Milk, fruit juices, glucose, meat extract and gallons of tea were his diet – and as many as 140 cigarettes a day!
When nature called, Sandy would play "Lady of Spain" at which time his 'one-armed' assistant would pull a curtain across shielding him from the audience.
Help was on hand, where necessary, from the St John Ambulance Brigade. They sponged him down and even held the mirror while he shaved one-handed.
A report in the Bolton News says Sandy achieved 193 hours 50 minutes in 1951. Many reports across the country suggest he topped 130 hours on numerous occasions.
Strickland died in 1975, 11 years after his last public appearance in Hampshire, in 1964, when he played non-stop for 132 hours.
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