Song of the Day 10/15: Madness, “Michael Caine”

Iconic British actor Michael Caine announced yesterday on BBC Radio that, at 90 years old, he’s retiring. “I keep saying I’m going to retire. Well, I am now. I’ve figured, I’ve had a picture where I’ve played the lead and it’s got incredible reviews. The only parts I’m likely to get now are old men.” In his just-released final film, “The Great Escaper,” Caine stars as a Royal Navy veteran who bolts his nursing home to attend the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

Caine won two Oscars as a supporting actor, but he became a leading man and fashion icon in the swinging London of the mid-’60s after starring in the spy film “The Ipcress File,” which inspired this song from the British ska revival group Madness.

The band, best known in the U.S. for their 1983 No. 7 hit “Our House,” released “Michael Caine” – they got him to do the vocal cameo – as the lead single from their 1984 LP “Keep Moving.” It reached No. 11 in the UK