Common people

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“Common People”
Single by Pulp from the album Different Class
B-side	"Underwear"
Released	June 1995
Format	vinyl record (7"/12"), cassette, 2 CDs
Recorded	1995
Genre	Britpop
Length	5:50
Label	Polygram
Writer(s)	Pulp
Producer	Chris Thomas
Pulp singles chronology
The Sisters EP (1994) Common People (1995) Mis-Shapes / Sorted for E's & Wizz (1995)

"Common People" is a song by English alternative rock band Pulp. It was released as a single in 1995, reaching number two on the UK singles chart. It also appears on the band's 1995 album Different Class. The song is about those who were perceived by the songwriter as wanting to be "like common people" and who ascribe glamour to poverty. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as slumming or "class tourism". A similar theme is explored in 1960s novel and film "Up The Junction".

Inspiration

The inspiration for the song came from a Greek fellow student Pulp singer/songwriter Jarvis Cocker knew at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. In the lyrics, the narrator explains that his female acquaintance can "never be like common people", because even if she gets an apartment where "roaches climb the wall" ultimately, "if [she] called [her] dad he could stop it all", in contrast to the true common people who can only "watch [their] lives slide out of view". In his lyric Cocker embellished the situation for dramatic effect ^[1] - in real life the woman in question said she wanted to "live like common people", but in the song her character also declares: "I want to sleep with common people like you." A BBC3 documentary^[2] failed to correctly locate the woman, whom Cocker stated could have been on any fine art course but that "sculpture" sounded better. The lyrics were in part a response by Cocker, who usually focused on the introspective and emotional aspects of pop, to more politically-minded members of the band like Russell Senior.

Cocker's simple four-bar synthesiser line was championed by keyboardist Candida Doyle, and the final single was mixed down from over 40 tracks. Cocker sings in a crescendo of controlled indignation and rage, relieved only by two drum breaks. To keep the single at around four minutes, the final verses that begin "Like a dog lying in a corner" were omitted, although they appear on the album version. These include the peak of the crescendo where Cocker paradoxically reduces to an intense whisper and describes the life of "common people".^[2]

Reception

The song was Pulp's most popular single, and became an instant classic in the UK soon after its release. The accompanying video featured an early appearance from actress Sadie Frost, a dance routine improvised by Cocker on the day of shooting, and an homage to the Eleanor Rigby sequence in the film Yellow Submarine (with everyday people stuck in repeating loops lasting less than a second). Different versions, including the recording from Pulp's headline act at Glastonbury Festival, a "Vocoda" mix and a radically different "Motiv8 club mix", also appeared on the Sorted for E's & Wizz^[3] singles.

In 2007, NME magazine placed "Common People" at number three in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever .

Renewed Popularity

In 2004, Ben Folds produced a cover version of "Common People" for William Shatner's album "Has Been" which featured a hard-driven, dramatic indie rock style in stark contrast to the Eurodisco style of the original version, and highly emotive vocals by Joe Jackson. This version won critical praise ^[4] and was the center of a popular "viral video" phenomenon on You-tube which took the form of a wide variety of user-interpreted videos which used it as a soundtrack.^[5] This made the song famous in markets outside of the United Kingdom and resulted in this cover version becoming the definitive one in the minds of many.^{[citation needed]}

Track listing

References