"Chalk Dust – The Umpire Strikes Back" is a 1982

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

credited to The Brat and performed by British comedians

Kaplan Kaye Kaplan Eric Kaye (born 1949) is an English stage and screen actor, songwriter and musician, as well as a Past King Rat of the show-business charity the Grand Order of Water Rats. Biography Born in Watford, Hertfordshire, the son of actor and ...

and

Roger Kitter Roger Daniel Kitter (20 October 1949 – 3 January 2015) was an English actor, comedian and impressionist (entertainment), impressionist, best known for playing Captain Alberto Bertorelli in 'Allo 'Allo! (series 7), series 7 of the British sitc ...

. The song satirises tennis champion

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

who was notorious for his

temper tantrums A tantrum, angry outburst, temper tantrum, lash out, meltdown, fit, or hissy fit is an emotional outburst, usually associated with those in emotional distress. It is typically characterized by stubbornness, crying, screaming, violence, defian ...

. It reached number 19 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1982.'What becomes of the one-hit wonders?'
– ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' Its B-side was a track named "Moody Mole" and the cover art was by illustrator

Graham Humphreys Graham Humphreys is a British illustrator and visual artist best known for producing film posters. During the 1980s, Humphreys worked with Palace Pictures, producing publicity material for films including ''Dream Demon'', '' Basket Case'', ''Th ...

The song

"Chalk Dust – The Umpire Strikes Back" is a

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

of American tennis player

and lampoons his infamous angry behaviour on the tennis court to a

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

beat. The entire song is a conversation between McEnroe (played by

) and the referee (played by

). They bicker until the referee finally loses his patience and shoots McEnroe dead. The line "The ball's in, everyone can see that the ball's in!" was an actual quotation from McEnroe. The title is a pun on the film ''

The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic film, epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based o ...

'' (1980) and the tennis term

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French , , and , : (as evidenced in cricke ...

. Released on the Hansa

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

, the single entered the UK Singles Chart on 10 July 1982. It reached a peak of number 19, and remained in the chart for 8 weeks. The song was also a Top 10 hit in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and a Top 20 hit in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sources

{{authority control 1982 songs 1982 singles Comedy songs Satirical songs Novelty songs Tennis music Cultural depictions of tennis players Cultural depictions of John McEnroe Hansa Records singles