The Dexy's Are In Kennington Come On Eileen

Dexy’s Midnight Runners 1982 No 1 Record, Come on Eileen will always be associated with Kennington, due to the accompanying video.

The video was directed by Julien Temple and filmed here in Kennington in the vicinity of the corner of Brook Drive and Hayles Street, then Austral Street and Holyoak Road. The character of “Eileen” in the music video (as well as on the single cover) is played by Máire Fahey, sister of Siobhan Fahey from Bananarama and Shakespears Sister.

On 7 Aug 1982 the song went to No.1 on the UK singles chart, where it stayed at No 1 for 4 weeks. This was Dexy’s second and last No.1. It was to sell over 1.33 million copies and spent 18 weeks in the UK charts becoming the Best-selling single of 1982. The song went on to win The Best British Single at the 1983 Brit Awards. VH1 ranked it number 18 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of the ’80s.

The Video

“Come On Eileen” was their first single issued in the US, where it also went to No.1. Much of the US success for “Eileen” can be attributed to its video, which got constant airplay on MTV.