I saw a news commentary piece last week which was suggesting that on both sides of the Atlantic the right wing parties were veering close to a revolution against democracy. That may be overstating things, but probably not by much! However, it did give me the theme for this weeks tunes, as I know several about revolution. And in one case I’m cheating a little as the word is in the band’s name, rather than the song title, but I’m (allegedly) in charge here so I can make it up as I go along, right? If Sunak and Truss can do it, so can I. So here is my selection of revolution songs for your delectation and amusement.

I feature The Beatles a lot in my posts, as they are still, in my view, the best band of all time. You may have noticed that I rather like them, so my starting point for this week will probably come as no surprise to you:

You knew that was coming, didn’t you! I love the way that John’s opening words are a bit lost, and the camera then shows George mouthing something to Paul. My lip reading skills are good enough to pick this up as him saying “John’s mic is shit” after which he smiles. A band very much at the top of their game. In case you need reminding, this one was on the album formally titled The Beatles, but which immediately became known as The White Album as the original sleeve was plain white, with the title The Beatles embossed on the lower right front corner – I remember my copy well! The album was released in November 1968 and, of course, went to #1 just about everywhere and has sold more than 17m copies worldwide. It was an ambitious double album, with the band taking in a huge range of musical styles, and was very much their magnum opus. This track was the opener on side four, where it was actually called Revolution 1, to distinguish it from the long, rambling, talking piece Revolution 9 which came later on the album. The song had made its first appearance in August 1968 as the B-side to Hey Jude, which also went to #1 in both the UK and the US, and in just about every other country that Wikipedia lists. In the US their charts also credited B-sides in their listings, and this got to #12 there in its own right.

You may well know today’s second song too:

As someone has remarked in the comments on YouTube: “No overdone makeup , no expensive dress, no dramatic stage lights , just pure talent.” I completely agree with him. This was the opening track on Tracy Chapman’s eponymous debut album, which was released in April 1988, and topped the charts in the UK and the US, as well as several other countries. For me, it was a wonderful album which is still a favourite to this day, and it was great to see a new singer-songwriter being so successful. Her subsequent albums haven’t fared quite that well, but they are all lovely, full of carefully crafted songs sung in that rich voice of hers. Fast Car was the single chosen to accompany the album’s launch, and it also did well, reaching #6 in the US and #4 in the UK. This was taken as the second single in July of that year, but I guess by then we all had the album, as it only got to #75 in the US and #85 here in the UK. It is still for me a great song from a great album, which is one of the best sellers of all time – over 20m copies worldwide.

Let’s crank up the speed and volume a bit for the next tune, shall we:

Revolution Radio was the title track of Green Day’s twelfth album, which came out in October 2016 and topped the charts in both the US and the UK, as well as in many other countries. It may not be up there with American Idiot – my favourite of their albums – but it is still pretty good, and received a positive response from critics, not that that means much sometimes! The song was the third single taken from the album, in May 2017, and enjoyed moderate chart success. In the UK it reached #85 on our downloads chart, and #6 in our Rock chart. It appeared on several of the airplay charts in the US, its best performance being #9 in the Mainstream Rock version.And Billie Joe Armstrong does write choruses that are fun to sing along with!

Another change of pace now, and I’m betting this will be a new one for just about everyone:

Cosmic Rough Riders were a Scottish band, who didn’t exactly set our charts alight but the album this comes from – Enjoy The Melodic Sunshine – is one that I bought and played a lot: I’m a sucker for good tunes, harmony vocals and jangly guitars! The album was released in November 2000, and although it only got as high as #82 here it spent seventeen weeks in our Albums chart, qualifying for a silver disc when it passed 60k sales and eventually going beyond the 100k sales mark. Revolution (In The Summertime?) was the third single taken from the album, released in July 2001 and peaking – as the video showed, at #35 in the UK singles chart. Their follow up album, Too Close To See Far, is also excellent. Daniel Wylie, the lead singer, wrote most of the band’s songs and has since continued as a solo artist, though he has released three albums since 2015 under the name Daniel Wylie’s Cosmic Rough Riders, the most recent of these being last year. I have them in my Apple Music library!

I’m guessing that this next one might be new for many of you, too. I’ve played several Steve Earle songs before, and rank him as one of my favourites, so I couldn’t overlook this one:

And you thought he was ‘just a country singer,’ eh? He can rock with the best! As Craig Ferguson says in his introduction to the band, The Revolution Starts Now was the title track of what was actually Steve’s eleventh album, released in August 2004 and getting to #89 in the US and #66 in the UK. It also reached #12 on the US Country chart, which I guess was down to the way they had always categorised him, as the album has a much rockier feel than some of his others. It also reached #7 on the Independent Albums chart, which I think is a fairer reflection of its genre. This track was released as a single, and made #15 on the US Adult Alternative Airplay chart, which is based on radio airplay. As I have previously said, I am a big fan and I have all of his albums in my collection: they get played often.

I played a T. Rex song last week and by a kind of coincidence they also have one which fits the bill for me this week too:

T. Rex released Children Of The Revolution as a single in September 1972. It peaked at #2 in the UK which, for them, was a relative failure, as four of their previous five had got to #1. The band were hugely successful here and in Europe, but never repeated that in the US: they had one top ten single over there, plus three others that made the lower reaches of the top 100, but this one was after that and they never featured in the US charts again. This wasn’t on any of their studio albums, but has since featured on many compilations. If you want to know a little more about Marc you’ll need to go back to last week’s post, here.

I seem to be taking a path through some lesser known tracks this week, and this next one is another which I’m guessing you may not know. I’ve played something from World Party before, about six months ago, and it feels right to do it again:

World Party is largely the creation of Karl Wallinger, who writes the songs and takes lead vocal, with whatever collection of musicians he has assembled at that point. He began the ‘band’ after he left The Waterboys, and named it after a song he wrote for them. Private Revolution was the title track of his new band’s first album, released in March 1987, which reached #56 in the UK and #39 in the US, though it actually did best in the Antipodes: #13 in Australia and #18 in New Zealand. This track was released as a single but didn’t make the charts, though the one I have played before, Ship Of Fools, made #42 in the UK and #27 in the US. I have all of their albums, and can recommend them: Karl is a very good songwriter and shares his concern for the environment in his work. This is a fun video and, in case you were wondering, yes that is Sinéad O’Connor on backing vocals and manic dancing!

I said at the outset that I was cheating a bit with one of today’s tunes, by using the part of a band’s name to give me my link. I’ve saved this till last, but you have probably already guessed who I mean. In the context of current politics, which is where today’s revolution theme derives from, this feels appropriate:

Let’s Go Crazy was the opening track on the Purple Rain album by Prince and the Revolution, which was both his sixth album and the soundtrack to the movie of the same name. It was released in June 1984 and reached #1 in the US, Canada, and several other countries, and got to #7 in the UK. After Prince’s death in 2016 there was the usual resurgence of interest that an artist’s passing brings about, and this time it peaked at #2 in the US but did better than previously in the UK, reaching #4. This song was released as a single in July 1984, making #1 in the US and #7 in the UK. It became a concert favourite, perhaps not surprisingly as an opening song. I chose to end with it today, as I think it is a fitting point to round up from where I began and the news commentary that prompted this theme. Democratic countries being led down the path towards voting for autocracy is, to me, about as crazy as it gets!

I’m off now to read the paper, to see if we are any closer to that revolution against democracy or if there are delays in the process. But as every day it seems that the GOP in the US finds another clown to spout lies and encourage people to give up their freedom, and here the two Tory leadership candidates find new ways to show us how out of touch they are with real life, I’m not hopeful. Enjoy your week, try to ignore the politicians, and I’ll see you again soon 😊