Hang On to Your Dreams (An Occasional Series): Part I -- World Famous in Cumbria

[Okay, this is gonna be a two-parter, and the second half, which will go up tomorrow, is a tad self-indulgent. But hang on -- it will all make sense and be worth it. -- S.S.]

Hey -- this is the coolest true story ever.

From the BBC webpage and the Brit tabloid The Sun, last week:

LIMPING ON

Ageing punks stunned after one of their songs was picked for a hit movie – 45 years after it sold just 50 copies

A former punk band guitarist has spoken of his shock after one of their songs was picked to appear in a new film.

The Limps blazed a trail in Carlisle, Cumbria, for a few months in the late-1970s before disappearing without a trace. Nearly 50 years later, their song "Someone I Can Talk To" will feature on the soundtrack of coming-of-age comedy Snack Shack, by US director Adam Rehmeier.

Songwriter Andy Septic –- now better known as Cumberland Council's councillor Andrew Semple -- said: “When Adam contacted us and said he wanted to use our song we couldn’t believe it.” Mr Rehmeier said he listened to the song every day when he was writing the film and said it was the only track that evoked the emotion he was looking for. He then contacted Mr Semple, the former mayor of Cockermouth, to ask to use it.

"We formed on a housing estate in Annan but the punk scene back then was in Carlisle,” Mr Semple said. “We weren’t very good - I was the only one who could play anything - and I think the most we ever played to was four or five people," he laughed.

Mr Semple said that since the news broke, the song – written in a bedroom in 1979 – has enjoyed a new lease on life on YouTube. However, he said it was unlikely to make The Limps overnight millionaires. “We’ve received a bit of money, but there’s not much when it’s got to be divided between four of us,” he added. Snack Shack is due to be released later this year.

Cockermouth. Words fail me.

Meanwhile, here's the song in question, which was originally released to world-wide apathy in 1979, but in retrospect is actually rather charming.

And here's the trailer for Snack Shack, which despite its generic teen-comedy vibe actually seems promising.

Like I said, this is the coolest true story ever.

Until what follows on the morrow. Heh.

To be continued...