Captain Sensible's first solo release came in 1978 with the single "Jet Boy, Jet Girl", recorded while the Damned were on hiatus. He followed this in 1981 with the "This Is Your Captain Speaking" EP on Crass Records. He signed to A&M Records and had a UK number one hit in 1982 with a cover of "Happy Talk", the Rodgers and Hammerstein song from "South Pacific", featuring backing by Dolly Mixture and a band including Robyn Hitchcock on guitar. This was later sampled for hip hop artist Dizzee Rascal's 2004 song "Dream".