Chumbawamba are an English band that started out playing Anarcho-punk, but over a 25-year career have gone on to play music ranging from pop-influenced dance music and world music to acoustic folk music. The band are best known for their song “Tubthumping” and are generally influenced by anarchist political stances and an irreverent attitude to authority.
Jacob’s Ladder (Albumesque)
Jacob’s Ladder is basically the story of political expediency and class; 541 British sailors drowned during WW2 because Churchill took a decision that their lives were of the less worth than that of the Norwegian Royal family. The story is that Haakon VII had sailed to the UK on HMS Devonshire, which was the only ship to receive a distress signal from the aircraft carrier Glorious. She had met two German battleships and was sunk. The Devonshire had to observe radio silence because the British could not take the risk of losing the King.*
50 years later Russian submariners drown because President Putin puts national pride before the lives of those on the Kursk and refuses to ask for international help.
This is the original version of the song. Chumbawamba later changed the lyrics and re-recorded the song as Jacob’s Ladder (Not in my name) as a political protest to the US unilaterally attacking Iraq and occupying that country.
This version, and the story behind it, is almost impossible to find anywhere on the Internet any more. I find the original version to be far more interesting than the second protest version, although it is good too.
http://djallyn.org/media/Chumbawama-jacobs_ladder.flv
Like rusty old nails
At the bottom of the sea
Telling no tales
For the good of the Admiralty
You jump when you’re told to
Through the open door
And the King of Norway
He’s the man you all died for
On this Jacob’s Ladder
The only way up is down
Three days in the water
Watching all the secrets drown
Jacob’s Ladder
A thousand lifetimes
Left standing at the docks
In the bar down in Whitehall
They’re sure the boat won’t rock
In a file marked ‘Secret’
In a drawer kept closed
Nobody wonders
Because nobody knows
About this Jacob’s Ladder
The only way up is down
Three days in the water
Watching all the secrets drown
Jacob’s Ladder
Jacob’s Ladder
And they sent him to the wars to be slain, to be slain
And they sent him to the wars to be slain
And they sent him to the wars to be slain, to be slain
And they sent him to the wars to be slain
* There are some who say this is nothing more that a conspiracy, that the Devonshire never did actually hear a weak signal from Glorious, or even if it had, there was no way the Devonshire could have stood up to two German battleships.
Another group say that even if the Devonshire had responded and tried to come to the rescue of the Glorious, it was simply too far away to get there in time.
However, there were other ships in the area that could have gotten there in time to try and effect a rescue. But nobody was ever notified.
It remains one of the great mysteries during WW2. The British immediately classified all records and have refused to release them even seven decades later. This does nothing to silence those who are accused of being “conspiracy-minded” about this.
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Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba are an English band that started out playing Anarcho-punk, but over a 25-year career have gone on to play music ranging from pop-influenced dance music and world music to acoustic folk music. The band are best known for their song “Tubthumping” and are generally influenced by anarchist political stances and an irreverent attitude to authority.
Tubthumping
Chumbawama The song addresses themes such as being defeated, but rising again:
I get knocked down, but I get up again; you’re never gonna keep me down
The liner notes on the album Tubthumper, from which “Tubthumping” was the first single, puts the song in a radical context, quoting a UK anti-road protester, Paris 1968 graffiti, details about the famous McLibel case and the short story “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner”. The album version of the song opens with a sample of a monologue performed by Pete Postlethwaite in the movie Brassed Off:
Truth is, I thought it mattered. I thought that music mattered. But does it? Bollocks! Not compared to how people matter.
Near the end of the song, the melody of the Prince of Denmark’s March is played on a horn.
http://djallyn.org/media/Chumbawamba-Tubthumping.flv
(We’ll be singing, when we’re winning, we’ll be singing)
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
(Pissing the night away, pissing the night away)
He drinks a Whiskey drink, he drinks a Vodka drink
He drinks a Lager drink, he drinks a Cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him of the better times
(Oh Danny Boy, Danny Boy, Danny Boy)
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
(Pissing the night away, pissing the night away)
He drinks a Whiskey drink, he drinks a Vodka drink
He drinks a Lager drink, he drinks a Cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him of the better times
(Don’t cry for me, next door neighbour)
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing) but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down (when we’re winning)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing) but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down (ooh)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing) but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down (when we’re winning)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing) but I get up again
You’re never gonna keep me down (ooh)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You’re never gonna keep me down (when we’re winning)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You’re never gonna keep me down (ooh)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You’re never gonna keep me down (when we’re winning)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You’re never gonna keep me down (ooh)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You’re never gonna keep me down (when we’re winning)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You’re never gonna keep me down (ooh)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You’re never gonna keep me down (when we’re winning)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You’re never gonna keep me down (ooh)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You’re never gonna keep me down (when we’re winning)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You’re never gonna keep me down (ooh)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You’re never gonna keep me down (when we’re winning)
I get knocked down, (we’ll be singing)
But I get up again (pissing the night away)
You’re never gonna keep me down (ooh)
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Chumbawamba
Break