At the
end of "Leisure", Andy Partridge sings two lines
from the chorus of "Lazybones", a classic song
written by Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael.
"Lazybones", according to Carmichael, came about one day in 1933 when lyricist Johnny Mercer suggested that they write a song with that title. Subconsciously, the composer went back to the improvised piano solo passage that he had written for "Washboard Blues" [in 1925], and in 20 minutes he and Mercer completed the song.
[Source: liner notes to Hoagy Carmichael: From "Star Dust" to "Ole Buttermilk Sky", Book-of-the-Month Records, 1980.]
The original lines are:
Lazybones, sleepin' in the sun,
How you 'spec' to get your day's work done?
In the XTC rendition, the words are changed ever so slightly:
Lazybones, looking through The Sun,
How's you ever expect to get your day's work ...?
The first line is a reference to the British tabloid newspaper The Sun. These lines can be interpreted in two ways, given the content of "Leisure". First, The Sun doesn't contain help-wanted advertisements -- thus, how will he find work by looking through The Sun? Alternatively, looking at The Sun is a fine way to shirk.
