‘I don't like cricket' singer enjoys first match 47 years later
The rock singer whose band sang 'I don't like cricket, I love it' has enjoyed watching his first match 47 years later.
Nearly five decades after 10cc's hit song Dreadlock Holiday, Graham Gouldman watched England romp to a 3-0 series clean sweep over the West Indies at The Oval.
The reggae song was co-written by Gouldman and has become a regular feature at cricket matches since its 1978 release.
Speaking to BBC Three Counties Radio, Gouldman, 79, said: 'After today's experience I can say 'I don't like cricket, I absolutely love it.
'I've had a really lovely day really, enjoyed it... great atmosphere, great people.
'I just had a wonderful time.'
A founding member of the band from Stockport, Gouldman previously told how the lyrics for the song came after speaking to a Jamaican man on holiday.
When he asked him if he liked cricket, he replied: 'Oh no… I love it.'
The song is a firm fan favourite among both cricket players and fans.
Phil Tufnell, the former England bowler, said it was the 'soundtrack to my cricket career'.
He told Gouldman: 'Wherever we was touring, it was always on.
'Also I'm pretty sure when I came out of the second jungle [on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here] that was the tune I came out to.'
The singer even teased a sequel song could be in the offing, when he was asked if he could write another hit about attending his first match.
He said: 'When you have had a nice experience like this I'm sure somewhere, at some point, something will crop up in a song.'
The band 10cc had five consecutive UK top-10 albums between 1972 and 1978.
Twelve of their singles reached the UK Top 40, including three that were chart-toppers.
Their other hits include Rubber Bullets and I'm Not in Love.
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A real fire across the street after the session, followed by an outbreak of blazes in Los Angeles, seemed a bad omen, but the real reason for the abandonment of SMiLE was the internal strife that disheartened first Parks, who walked away from the project, and then Wilson. Brian's increasing dependence on drugs – marijuana, LSD, and eventually and most damagingly cocaine – destroyed what had once been an exemplary work ethic; now he stayed at home in his new Bel Air mansion with his wife and two small daughters, rising late, eating junk food and playing Spector's records over and over again to the occasional visitor. There was concern as the weight of the man who had once owned a Hollywood health-food store called The Radiant Radish ballooned until, still in his early 30s, he weighed more than 109 kg (17st 2lb). 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Patchy reunion albums, managerial upheavals, Brian and Marilyn's divorce, artistic and financial disagreements between Love and the Wilsons, peacemaking efforts by Carl, Dennis's death by drowning in 1983 and the departure of Jardine punctuated the years leading up to the appearance, in 1988, of an excellent solo album led off by a fine song, Love and Mercy, in which Brian seemed to have made peace with his demons. For six years he had been in the care of Eugene Landy, a psychotherapist who insisted on 24-hour care and control of his clients. In Brian's case he also assumed the functions of manager, co-songwriter and record producer, earning fees of about $300,000 a year for his work, as well as royalties. Wilson's autobiography Wouldn't It Be Nice was ghostwritten under Landy's supervision and later disowned by its subject. Landy's success in persuading Brian to lose weight and give up recreational drugs helped to avert a possible early death, but many believed that his use of other forms of medication had turned his patient into a muted, zombie-like creature: the inmate of a prison without walls. But in 1986, while browsing in a Cadillac showroom, Brian met a saleswoman, Melinda Ledbetter, with whom he struck up a relationship. As depicted in the 2014 feature film Love & Mercy, in which the youthful and older versions of Brian were played by Paul Dano and John Cusack, she helped free him from the clutches of Landy, who was eventually charged with unethical behaviour and improper prescription of drugs, losing his licence to practise. Wilson married Ledbetter in 1995. His new wife became his new manager, supervising a revival that took wing in 1998, when – shortly after his brother Carl's death from lung cancer – he toured the world performing Pet Sounds in its entirety, with the skilled members of a Los Angeles band, the Wondermints, taking the place of the original Beach Boys. (The performances were repeated in 2016, on a tour marking the album's 50th anniversary.) In 2002 he appeared in the garden of Buckingham Palace, performing God Only Knows at Queen Elizabeth II's golden jubilee celebration. Two years later he chose the Royal Festival Hall in London for the world premiere of the painstakingly reconstructed SMiLE, giving a triumphant performance prefaced by a standing ovation for Van Dyke Parks, who was in the audience. A new recording of the piece was released to further acclaim, followed by the appearance of the original version, pieced together from the 1967 recordings. Several solo albums followed, featuring new songs of variable quality and guest appearances from such admirers as Elton John and McCartney. Witnesses to his post-comeback appearances would sometimes be disconcerted by occasional signs of strain and bemusement, and that angelic voice had lost most of its youthful range and flexibility. Nevertheless in every concert there were moments when he came to life and demonstrated that he could share the audience's enjoyment of bathing in the still-sunkissed warmth of a seemingly endless string of great songs, the products of one of the most fertile and innovative musical minds of his time. Melinda died in January 2024. Two weeks later Wilson's management team applied for a conservatorship order, following a diagnosis of dementia. He is survived by the two daughters of his first marriage, Wendy and Carnie, by five adopted children – the daughters Daria, Delanie and Dakota, and the sons Dylan and Dash – and by six grandchildren. Brian Wilson, songwriter and singer, born 20 June 1942; died 11 June 2025
