The national convention of the US Democratic Party traditionally begins with Aaron Copeland’s famous, uplifting composition, ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’. If you don’t know the piece a recording of it is here.
Copeland’s music was inspired by a speech of former Vice-President Henry Wallace. Wallace was a liberal Republican who served in the Democratic administration of Roosevelt in the 1930s and 40s and ending up running for President on a third party platform in 1948 to the left of the Democrats, advocating progressive policies on racial equality and universal healthcare that were 20 or more years ahead of any main party candidates. His worst fault was a rosy-eyed view of the Soviet Union, which he later repudiated.
The speech was delivered in 1942, when he was Roosevelt’s Vice-President. Responding to right-wing calls for “an American Century” after the war, Wallace called for “a century of the common man”: peace secured by freedom, fairness and open opportunity for all. He emphasised the importance of education, science, work, decent living standards and strong nations helping weaker ones to make progress.
It is easy to see why our fellow liberals in the Democratic Party are inspired by Wallace’s speech and why Copeland’s stirring notes have been selected as the first sounds of the party convention.
My question is, if a certain piece of music was traditionally played at the opening of the Liberal Democrat Conference, what would it be? What would uplift us? What would remind us of the great purposes that unite our party?
* Antony Hook was a Liberal Democrat MEP for South East England (2019) and has practised as a barrister since 2003. He is currently Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Kent County Council.
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My first reaction I fear was to nominate the Hogwarts School Song.
A standing joke about British Quakers is that the are rather bad about singing as they are always looking ahead to see if they agree with the words. Something like that might also apply here…
However for a piss-off UKIP moment, the Ode To Joy as set to Beethoven’s music.
I suggest Nick sings a solo
“And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, I’ll say it clear,
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain.
I’ve lived a life that’s full.
I’ve traveled each and ev’ry highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.”
The Land. Obviously.
This seems very apt in the circumstances…:-)
+1 for the Land, or at least a rousing instrumental of Marching Through Georgia.
Always look on the bright side of life.
”Alle menschen werden brudern…” I dare say we can find an English translation so the kippers get the message. We know they recognise the tune since they shamefully turned their backs on it at Strasbourg.
Obviously it should be ‘ Non, je ne regrette rien’
Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye
I would suggest Dudley Moore’s and Peter Cook’s rendering of “Good-by”
Or, as we are now commemorating World War 1, what about the soldiers’ song:
“We’re ‘ere because we’re ‘ere because, we’re ‘ere because …”
The Land!
The Land of Make Believe by Bucks Fizz especially when Cleggie comes on stage
Can I sugggest
MICHAEL MCDONALD I Can Let Go Now
It was so right, it was so wrong
Almost at the same time
The pain and ache a heart can take
No one really knows
When the memories cling and keep you there
Till you no longer care
And you can let go now
It’s wrong for me to cling to you
Somehow I just needed time
From what was to be-it’s not like me
To hold somebody down
Chorus:
But I was tossed high by love
I almost never came down
Only to land here
Where love’s no longer found
Where I’m no longer bound
And I can let go now
Dont know how to post a clip to the music video. but it is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNTL1Palu1U
“Money! Money! Money! It’s a rich man’s world.”
Can really be only one song. Sadly I can’t see team C legg going for it…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7SknY0oyYQ&w=420&h=315%5D
Can’t seem to embed – but this link should work…
Forgot to add in my previous post that of course that would be followed by Nicks Resignation lol
Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’ for three reasons:
– it will get people dancing in the aisles
– ‘We’ve come too far to give up who we are’
– we need to…
Rather like tho Ode to Joy’ idea, though my first thought was The Land.
Maybe one to open and one to close.
Slightly envy Fanfare for the Common Man,, but it is taken.
What about the Grateful Dead’s Dark Star? Its almost un-singable so would avoid the problems of having several hundred people trying to join in each in their own key and tempo, and its about 23 minutes long so would conveniently take up all the time normally allocated to platitudinous opening speeches.
Yes it has to be The Land. If you want something classical then perhaps The Prisoners Chorus from Beethoven’s Fidelio – a song about freedom for political prisoners. There is a visceral intensity to the music as the prisoners see the sun for the first time in months. Makes you appreciate what a radical political thinker and polemicist Beethoven was.
Forgot to mention David Steel’s record…
I’m so disappointed that not everybody is taking this seriously.
I always think pop songs in these situations sound contrived, and you don’t really want three minutes. Classical anthems are the way to go – the meaning is there to be understood far more immediately than with the often inaudble lyrics of a song.
I don’t see why we couldn’t use Copeland, which is great, but I would suggest Luke’s leitmotif from Star Wars. Everybody knows what that means.
We shall overcome? I had better get the mention of Waltzing Matilda out of the way.
We could use the ELP version of Fanfare, classic British Prog. Or the Steve Hillage cover of Donovans “Hurdy-Gurdy Man”.
“Thrown like a Star from my vast sleep.”
I would suggest a new version of the Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel, along the lines
I am just a rich boy
So my story’s seldom told
I have squandered my inheritance
For a pocket full of mumbles like Dave’s promises
All lies and jests
Till the man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest
When I left my home and my family
I was no more than a boy
In the company of liberals
In the quiet of the EU parliament running scared
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the liberal people go
Looking for the places only they would know
Li la li …
Asking only MP’s wages
I come looking for a job
And I get an offer,
It’s a come-on from Libs of Sheffield Hallam
I do declare, there were times when I was so lonesome
I took some comfort there
Li la li …
Then I’m laying down my election pledge
Wishing I was number one
Moving On
Where the Liberal Democrat activists aren’t bleeding me
Bleeding me, moving on
In the clearing stands a councillor
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of ev’ry leader’s broken pledge that layed him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his pain
“I am leaving, I am leaving”
But the Lib Dem still remains
Li la li …
I’m sure the editors of the Liberator Song Book will be able to touch it up as necessary.
If there is any vestige remaining of the ideals of the party I joined all those years ago, then as Gareth says “The Land. Obviously”.
However, in view of the upcoming GE, then maybe:
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.
Or even:
@Steve Griffiths – perhaps rather than the Trauermarch we could fast forward to the end of Goetterdaemerung. Bernard Shaw (correctly in my opinion) characterized The Ring as a critique of the ills of 19th century bourgeois social order. With the apocalyptic destruction of Valhalla Wagner gives us the end of gods and monsters and the emergence of a world of men and women using that staggeringly beautiful melody that plays as the curtain falls.
Or of course as our political leaders have proven to have feet of clay we could go for No More Heroes Anymore by The Stranglers.
@Steve Griffiths – perhaps rather than the Trauermarch we could fast forward to the end of Goetterdaemerung. Bernard Shaw characterized The Ring as a critique of the ills of 19th century bourgeois society. With the apocalyptic destruction of Valhalla Wagner gives us the end of gods and monsters and a vision of a new world of men and women, set to that staggeringly beautiful melody that plays as the curtain falls.
Or of course as our political leaders have proven to have feet of clay we could go for No More Heroes Anymore by The Stranglers.
I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how to embed it, but Gene Clark’s epic Some Misunderstanding summed things up after May:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2ViQXg_0bw&w=420&h=315%5D
Though I am taken by Mark Smulian’s suggestion.
How about
“I Want to Break Free” by Queen ?
I would suggest that if sampling is involved then this quote “Go back to your constituencies and prepare for government” should be in the mix…
Better still
“I Can See Clearly Now the Rain is Gone” by Jimmy Cliffe
Very positive and uplifting
Cleggian Rhapsody
With apologies to Queen
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
there was no landslide,
hung parliament a reality
Rolling your eyes,
Look up to the skies and see,
I’m just a Lib Dem, I get no sympathy,
Because I’m easy come, easy go,
Little high, bigger low,
Any way the polls blows doesn’t really matter to
me, to me
Mama,
I just killed a party,
Put a gun against its head, pulled my trigger
now its dead
Mama… power had just begun,
But now I’ve gone and thrown it all away
Mamaaaaa oooh,
Didn’t mean to make you cry,
If I’m not back again this time tomorrow,
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters
Too late, my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine, body’s aching all
the time
Goodbye, ev’ry policy, they’ve got to go,
Got to leave you all behind and face the truth
Mamaaaaa oooh, (Anyway the wind blows)
I don’t want to die,
I sometimes wish I’d never mentioned tuition fees at all
I see a little silhouetto of a man,
Cameron! Cameron ! Will you do the
George Osborne?!
Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening
coalition, coalition
coalition, coalition
coalition, figure go ! magnifico
I’m just a poor Clegg, nobody loves me
He’s just a poor Clegg from a rich family,
Spare him his life from this monstrosity!
Easy come, easy go, will you let me go
Coalition ! No, we will not let you go
(Let him go!) Coalition! We will not let you go
(Let him go!) Coalition! We will not let you go
(Let me go) Will not let you go
(Let me go)(Never) Never let you go
(Let me go) Never let you go (Let me go) Ah
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia, let me go
Miliband has a devil put aside for me, for me,
for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
So you think you can stop me and spit in my
eye?!?!
So you think you can love me and leave me to
die?!?!
Oh, Tories, can’t do this to me, Tories,
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta
here!
Nothing really worked out, Anyone can see,
Nothing really worked out,
Nothing really worked out to me…
Anyway the wind blows…
mentioning the lovely Gene Clark – train leaves here this morning
I lost ten points just for bein’
In the right place at exactly the wrong time
I looked right at the facts there
But I may as well have been completely blind
So if you see me walkin’ all alone.
Don’t look back I’m just on my way back home
There’s a train leaves here this mornin’
I don’t know what I might be on
If we have The Land, could we have the 1909 Budget as our manifesto, please?
We should play our biggest hit :
Can’t resist joining in so have to suggest the theme from “Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?”:
@Caracatus
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
There are not many things in life that makes me smile of late. But that really made my day and cracked me up.
I know it was at the expense of Cleggy and many in the party will not be to happy with your rendition.
But it brightened up my grey day 🙂 so thanks for that
Matt
I agree with matt.
Caracatus and Old Liberal have put a smile on my face with their updated versions of classic songs and I was singing along to them in my head.
I have to wonder though, what sort of response was Antony Hook expecting when he wrote his article? Perhaps he has not read much of this website 😉
🙂
How about this…
“It’s a kind of Magic” by Queen.
If we are going to be silly how about Traffics “40,000 Headmen” ?
“I know just where my feet should go & thats enough for me.”
Any one of the classical pieces. One, you generally don’t have to worry about paying out for licensing, and there aren’t usually living artists who can embarass the party by going on air to disown any connection with it. As tends to happen when politicians use contemporary music. And two, because as has been said already, contemporary tracks just sound contrived when politicians use them.
And no reference to the present situation should be made. Unless you want to have some kind of cathartic ‘Resignation of Nick Clegg’ panto played out at the beginning of every Liberal Democrat conference until the end of politics itself…
BB King’s “The thrill has gone” sums up the feelings of former Liberal suporters, members and voters since Clegg arrived.
Peter Watson got there first or I would have chosen– the theme from “Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?”:
Oh, what happened to you?
Whatever happened to me?
What became of the people we used to be?
The Land, though that could go back to its traditional role in closing the conference. Instead, we could open Conference with a celebration of last year’s with the new Glee Club favourite of ‘Part Time Submarine’. That way, everyone can be seen to be joyously singing party policy to kick it all off.
Dare to be different – Donovan
It’s got to be Alice Cooper
http://song.unwomen.org/
Wow. Asking “what kind of music do you like?” always has unpredictable consequences.
I was all prepared to be serious on this thread but some postings made me laugh. Can we have some versions included in Glee Club, please.
Going back to the original question, do we have to rule out Fanfare for the Common Man? Surely we can share with the American Democrats.
With apologies to Stephen Stills:
“Round, round, up and down
Feelin’ lonely in this conference town
See them sinkin’ low
They don’ show the joy they used to know.
And they cry. . .. from the misery
When he lies….. they sing in harmony
It’s all gone. . . there is no tomorrow
It is done .. . .so now they must borrow
The life of their brothers
And living in sorrow
Keep doing…… for the others
A chill wind hits their face
Was that a tear I thought I saw a trace?
Loving people everywhere
Where are we? We are not there
And we cry. . .. from the misery
When he lies….. we sing in harmony
It’s all gone. . . there is no tomorrow
It is done so now we must borrow
The life of our brothers
And living in sorrow
Keep doing…… for the others.
@ Edis Bevan
‘However for a piss-off UKIP moment, the Ode To Joy as set to Beethoven’s music.’
Since the beginning of 2014, I have been using it as my mobile ring tone.
@Steve Griffiths
‘However, in view of the upcoming GE, then maybe:
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;’
Having been to the same school as Henry Francis Lyte, (albeit 140 years later), I find him quite symbolic of a lot of things.
Of the British Isles as a whole, as he was born in Scotland, but lived and went to school in what is now Northern Ireland, followed by university in Dublin and a work career in Southern Ireland and England.
Of England, as it is sung by football crowds at Wembley.
Of Europe, since it was probably composed in Nice, where he died on a journey to Italy in the hope of relieving his TB.
Incidentally, the tune we know is not the one he wrote, but a later addition by W.H. Monk
If you really want a rousing anthem, full of exhortations to improve things and upset the status quo, there is Blake’s Jerusalem – I am sure many people don’t read the words.
this is actually a serious issue because a song/tune can stick with both activists and voters – by chance I happened to be with my daughters on 3rd May 1997 when Labour was setting up to party the night away to ‘Things can only get better’. it needs energy, instant recall and no negative associations. ‘Hi ho silver lining’ springs to mind. When things could have been or could yet still be so much worse, the Lib Dems are the silver lining that make things good.
Since somebody mentioned ‘Ode to Joy’ from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.
There is a rumour (alas, probably not true, because it would fit the outlook of the poet) that Schiller’s poem was originally an ‘ode to freedom’ (‘Freiheit, schooner Goetterfunken….) instead of the ode to joy (Freude).
It actually makes at least as much sense, if not more, if you exchange the words.
So my favourite would be the ‘Ode to Freedom’ from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.
…. as performed by Leonard Bernstein in Berlin in December 1989.
‘Ode to Freedom’
I was going to suggest Down to Zero by Joan Armatrading, but I do like the re-worked versions of Bohemian Rhapsody and The Boxer! I hope there is time to get these in this year’s Glee Club songbook (and if they DO go in I’ll pledge to buy a copy).
I like the idea of “Freude schöner götterfunken” as the opening of conference, and closing with The Land.
If you haven’t seen the flashmob version, I suggest wathing this:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbJcQYVtZMo&w=560&h=315%5D
Trying the other embed code:
I wonder if Nick should respond and go for …..Joe Dolce’s (if I got that right) “Shut uppa ya face” given some of those selections!
This is one of the most entertaining threads I Have ever read in LDV.
Thanks in particular to Richard Gadsden for the flash mob brilliant — My smile just got wider as Ode to Joy got into gear.
Thanks also to Joshua Dixon for ‘What’s the point of Nick Clegg?’ a brilliant video, chillingly appropriate words and compelling music. One of those tunes that keeps the chorus bouncing round in my head — What’s the point of Nick Clegg?
Can LDV have more music threads, please?.