Love of the Common People (song)
Encyclopedia
"Love of the Common People" is a folk ballad written and composed by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins and first released in January 1967 by The Four Preps
. It has been covered most successfully by soul group The Winstons
, reggae singer Nicky Thomas
, country singer Waylon Jennings in 1967 and English white soul
singer Paul Young
.
It was also a huge hit in Ireland for showband star Joe Dolan
.
recorded a Joe Gibbs
-produced reggae
version of the song in 1970, which sold over 175,000 copies in the United Kingdom
and reached number 9 in the UK Singles Chart
. It was Thomas's only major hit single, and, according to Steve Leggett of Allmusic, "practically defines the term 'pop reggae.'"
released his interpretation of "Love of the Common People" as a single, but it, initially, failed to chart. It was only when Young had his first hit in 1983 with "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)
" and the single was re-released that it became a big hit. The single peaked at #2 in the UK, and reached the number one spot in Ireland and the Netherlands. This version also contained a solo by influential ska
and reggae
trombonist Rico Rodriguez
. On Stiff Little Fingers'
s re-mastered Now Then...
album, there is an interview with Jake Burns
where he re-calls Paul Young met Stiff Little Fingers at one of their concerts in Dunstable
in support of the album in which Young asked Burns whether Stiff Little Fingers were planning to release the song as a single. When Burns told them they weren't, Young asked if they minded him releasing it as a single. They said he could, not thinking the single would do well. Burns then says jokingly in the interview, "Pfft! Go ahead. You'll never get anywhere with that, mate. Yeah, number 2, that'll teach me!"
on his album of the same name (1967), Pat Boone
on Look Ahead (1968), Lynn Anderson
on Promises, Promises (1968), Leonard Nimoy
on Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy
(1968), John Denver
on Rhymes & Reasons (1969), The Everly Brothers
, Joe Dolan
, Elton John
, Bruce Springsteen (Live in Dublin
, 2007) and Stiff Little Fingers
on Now Then...
(1982), The Winstons (1969) peaking at #54 on the Billboard Hot 100, Joe Strummer
& the Latino Rockabilly War
(Live in Edinburgh, 1988).
The Four Preps
The Four Preps are an American popular music male quartet. In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the group amassed eight gold singles and three gold albums...
. It has been covered most successfully by soul group The Winstons
The Winstons
The Winstons were a 1960s funk and soul music group, based in Washington, D.C.. They are known for their 1969 recording of an EP featuring a song entitled "Color Him Father" on the A-side, and a song entitled "Amen, Brother" on the B-side. Half-way into "Amen, Brother", there is a drum solo The...
, reggae singer Nicky Thomas
Nicky Thomas
Nicky Thomas was a reggae singer who enjoyed considerable chart success in the 1970s.-Biography:...
, country singer Waylon Jennings in 1967 and English white soul
Blue-eyed soul
Blue-eyed soul is a media term that was used to describe rhythm and blues and soul music performed by white artists, with a strong pop music influence. The term was first used in the mid-1960s to describe white artists who performed soul and R&B that was similar to the music of the Motown and...
singer Paul Young
Paul Young (singer and guitarist)
Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...
.
It was also a huge hit in Ireland for showband star Joe Dolan
Joe Dolan
Joseph "Joe" Francis Robert Dolan was an Irish entertainer, recorder and singer of easy listening songs...
.
Lyrics
The lyrics tell a bleak story of poverty and joblessness. There is a mention of "free food tickets," a reference to government food stamp and welfare programs, and the lyrics also describe the subject family as having holes in their clothes. Though Wilkins and Hurley did not expressly say so in the lyrics, the song is also a protest of what they saw as the failure of the American government to do more for the poor and unemployed than it already had.Nicky Thomas version
Nicky ThomasNicky Thomas
Nicky Thomas was a reggae singer who enjoyed considerable chart success in the 1970s.-Biography:...
recorded a Joe Gibbs
Joe Gibbs (record producer)
Joe Gibbs born Joel A. Gibson was a Jamaican reggae producer.-Biography:Joe Gibbs worked as an electronics engineer in the United States before his career in music started. Gibbs eventually returned to Kingston, Jamaica and opened an electrical repair shop with television repairs and sales as its...
-produced reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
version of the song in 1970, which sold over 175,000 copies in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and reached number 9 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. It was Thomas's only major hit single, and, according to Steve Leggett of Allmusic, "practically defines the term 'pop reggae.'"
Paul Young version
In 1982 Paul YoungPaul Young (singer and guitarist)
Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...
released his interpretation of "Love of the Common People" as a single, but it, initially, failed to chart. It was only when Young had his first hit in 1983 with "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)
Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)
"Wherever I Lay My Hat " is a song written by Marvin Gaye, Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield, and first recorded by Gaye in 1962. Years later, Paul Young's version of the song was a UK No. 1 single for three weeks in July 1983...
" and the single was re-released that it became a big hit. The single peaked at #2 in the UK, and reached the number one spot in Ireland and the Netherlands. This version also contained a solo by influential ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
and reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
trombonist Rico Rodriguez
Rico Rodriguez
Rico Rodriguez MBE , also known as Reco or El Reco, is a ska and reggae trombonist. He has recorded with many producers, including Karl Pitterson, Prince Buster, and Lloyd 'Matador' Daley...
. On Stiff Little Fingers'
Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977, at the height of the Troubles. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star , doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They split up after six years and four albums, although they...
s re-mastered Now Then...
Now Then...
-Chart Position:-Personnel:*Jake Burns - Vocals/Guitar*Dolphin Taylor - Drums*Henry Cluney - Guitar*Ali McMordie - Bass...
album, there is an interview with Jake Burns
Jake Burns
Jake Burns is a singer and guitarist, and is best known as the frontman of Stiff Little Fingers.-Career:...
where he re-calls Paul Young met Stiff Little Fingers at one of their concerts in Dunstable
Dunstable
Dunstable is a market town and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, 30 miles north of London. These geographical features form several steep chalk escarpments most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north.-Etymology:In...
in support of the album in which Young asked Burns whether Stiff Little Fingers were planning to release the song as a single. When Burns told them they weren't, Young asked if they minded him releasing it as a single. They said he could, not thinking the single would do well. Burns then says jokingly in the interview, "Pfft! Go ahead. You'll never get anywhere with that, mate. Yeah, number 2, that'll teach me!"
Chart performance
| Chart (1983) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
2 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
1 |
| Chart (1984) | Peak position |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 3 |
| Dutch GfK GfK The GfK Group, established in 1934 as Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung is Germany's largest market research institute, and the fourth largest market research organisation in the world, after Nielsen Company, Kantar Group, and IMS Health... chart |
1 |
| Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
1 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 3 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
45 |
Other cover versions
The song was recorded by many artists, including Waylon JenningsWaylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...
on his album of the same name (1967), Pat Boone
Pat Boone
Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer who has been a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He covered black artists' songs and sold more copies than his black counterparts...
on Look Ahead (1968), Lynn Anderson
Lynn Anderson
Lynn Rene Anderson is an American country music singer and equestrian known for a string of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably her Grammy Award-winning, worldwide mega-hit, " Rose Garden." Helped by her regular exposure on national television, Anderson was one of the most...
on Promises, Promises (1968), Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
on Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy
Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy
Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy is Leonard Nimoy's second album, which was released shortly after Music From Outer Space. It was released in early 1968 by Dot Records.-Background:...
(1968), John Denver
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
on Rhymes & Reasons (1969), The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...
, Joe Dolan
Joe Dolan
Joseph "Joe" Francis Robert Dolan was an Irish entertainer, recorder and singer of easy listening songs...
, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, Bruce Springsteen (Live in Dublin
Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin
Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin is a 2007 video and audio offering that captures in-concert performances from the Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour recorded in November 2006 at The Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. The release consists of a concert DVD,...
, 2007) and Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977, at the height of the Troubles. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star , doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They split up after six years and four albums, although they...
on Now Then...
Now Then...
-Chart Position:-Personnel:*Jake Burns - Vocals/Guitar*Dolphin Taylor - Drums*Henry Cluney - Guitar*Ali McMordie - Bass...
(1982), The Winstons (1969) peaking at #54 on the Billboard Hot 100, Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor , best remembered by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the British punk rock band The Clash. His musical experience included his membership in The 101ers, Latino Rockabilly War, The Mescaleros and The Pogues, in...
& the Latino Rockabilly War
Latino Rockabilly War
The Latino Rockabilly War was a backing band most notably for one-time The Clash frontman Joe Strummer. With Strummer, The Latino Rockabilly War created one record, Earthquake Weather, through Epic Records...
(Live in Edinburgh, 1988).