Up The Junction did not just give Squeeze a hit single: it cemented Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook as one of the greatest songwriting partnerships of all time.

The song is a miniature kitchen-sink drama as wonderful as the actual kitchen-sink drama after which it is named (itself a remake of Ken Loach’s 1965 TV drama), compressing an entire novel – boy meets girl, boy marries girl, couple have baby, marriage falls apart – into just three minutes.

It’s also one of those rare songs – inspired by Roxy Music’s Virginia Plain – in which the title only appears in the final line, as the final words.

It’s funny to think that lyrics so redolent of London in general, and South London in particular – and specifically Clapham – were written a couple of thousand miles away in New Orleans by Chris Difford.

I guess that’s what homesickness can do to you.

The song came from Squeeze’s second album Cool For Cats, released in 1979, and a major improvement on their disappointing debut produced by John Cale, with Difford and Tilbrook refining their songwriting partnership.

Difford wrote the lyrics and Tilbrook the music for this one, and it’s Tilbrook who sings the lead vocal.

The video – shot the same day as the one for Cool For Cats – shows Squeeze apparently playing inside a flat, and was shot in the kitchen of John Lennon’s house Tittenhurst Park, where he had filmed the promo for Imagine. 

Oh and look out for those two girls in the back in the video.. one of them is future EastEnders actress Michelle Collins.