So we all know British people are a bit kooky, right? I mean, first off, at least like 93% of British males are named “Nigel”, which is just a little weird. Then there’s that whole “throw another shrimp on the barby” line that I never quite understand.

Okay, so maybe that’s Australian. Whatever. The point is, Brits are an odd, odd bunch. But so are Americans. And so begins my story:

My friend Ben (of “Hot Benz” fame) got really into the whole MP3 thing ’round about 1997. I remember him asking me about them and me telling him they were kind of stupid. I’d tinkered around with them a bit a couple of years before; I remember downloading a live version of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins song — Soma — and playing it on an abysmal peice of software called Winmp3 or something like that. It took forever to download over the modem and the quality wasn’t so good (it was a live track and it was encoded at a paltry 56kps). So, long story short (too late) I told him MP3s were cool, but not that cool.

He ignored my heedings (smart kid) and downloaded all sorts of music, probably completely monopolizing his roomie’s phone line (Dan, Earl or Beau will have to comment on this). One of the things he downloaded was a live version of “21 Century Digital Boy” by Bad Religion. This was, at the time, my favorite Bad Religion song. I’d never considered myself a big fan, but they did put on a decent show when I saw them with Pearl Jam — at my first concert ever, no less — back in ‘95.

Over at Ben’s house, one day, he brought me into his room, barely able to contain his laughter. “You gotta listen to this, man”, he said. So I did. Sounded like a pretty normal (if live and of suspect audio fidelity) version of “21st Century Digital Boy” to me. And then as the last guitar strums echoed out (”…and like a mystery, yeaahhhhh”) it happened. The lead singer dude said “GEORGE DAVIS!”.

In a weird British accent.

My first response was, “um, what the fuck?”

My second response was pretty much the same as the first, but this time I managed to add a slightly more helpfull “Did he, um, just say George Davis? Who the fuck is that?”

Ben, then, did his impression of the dude saying “George Davis”. I pretty much lost it and didn’t stop laughing for a week. (Trust me, you just have to know Ben. It’s funny).

Here is a short sample of that song he downloaded: BR - 21st Century Digital Boy (Mp3, 375k)

Fast forward about seven years later, and I was hanging out with my friend Andrea, and for some reason the whole “George Davis” thing just came back to me. I did my impression (which is really more like my impression of Ben’s impression) and, again, it was hilarious. I mentioned how I’d always wondered who/what the fuck George Davis was. Given the maturation of the Internet in the interviening 7 years since I was introduced to this little gem, it seemed like we might be able to figure it out. Andrea and I set about to do just that.

We googled and found a Bad Religion message board. We created an account and posted a question. I’m paraphrasing, but it was pretty much “Who the fuck is George Davis?” We weren’t really expecting anyone to respond but I guess god was on our side, because someone did. I will recount their tale presently.

Apparently, some band called “Sham 69″ had a song called “The Cockney Kids are Innocent”. And for some reason (more on this later) the dude just said “George Davis” at the end of the song. Or at least that was the story according to the Bad Religion Messageboard Guy™. Andrea and I were ecstatic with this answer. She went and found that song, and put it on a CD she made for me. So here’s the Brit version, since our countries have been all friendly-like since that war:

Sham 69 - Cockney Kids are Innocent (Mp3, 190k)

There is one more wrinkle to this epic story, however. Today I decided to research this further. Apparently, the original name of the Sham 69 song was “George Davis is Innocent” (!!!). George Davis was some Brittish criminal, and the song was part of a (successful) campaign to get him released from prison. After he was out, he decided, as Brits are wont to do, to promptly rob a bank. So Sham 69 was compelled to change the name to the whole Cockney thing. But I guess they still had a soft spot in their heart for ol’ Georgie Boy.

So here’s a special treat: Sham 69 - George Davis is Innocent (Mp3, 400k)

So, now you know why I ask every British person I see to say “George Davis”. I mean, it’s in their blood.

No one does it quite like Ben, though.