I admit it, I was up late last night watching movies.  The first one was a mindbender, one giant spaced-out metaphor; a Memento-esque marathon that every person who has flirted with existentialism should see, called, “Under the Silver Lake.”  The other one was a series of romantic romp vignettes through Berlin, Germany, called, “Love in Berlin.”  The first movie was a DVD from the library and the second one was on netflix.  Watching the movies kept me from coloring last night, and the rest is history.  Sorry it’s late today!

The musical selection today is from disc 3 of the Brit Box, which I wrote about here.  I’m going to have to say it’s my favorite song so far, because it punched me in the gut right away.  The song is track 13, and it is called, “Common People,” by Pulp, a single from “Different Class” (1995.)  This is a BIG SONG.

Pulp were an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their best-known line-up from their heyday (1992–1997) consisted of Jarvis Cocker (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Candida Doyle (keyboards), Russell Senior (guitar, violin), Mark Webber (guitar, keyboards), Steve Mackey (bass) and Nick Banks (drums, percussion).

Throughout the 1980s, the band struggled to find success, but gained prominence in the UK in the mid-1990s with the release of the albums His ‘n’ Hers in 1994 and particularly Different Class in 1995, which reached the number one spot in the UK Albums Chart. The album spawned four top ten singles, including “Common People” and “Sorted for E’s & Wizz”, both of which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart. Pulp’s musical style during this period consisted of disco influenced pop-rock coupled with references to British culture in their lyrics in the form of a “kitchen sink drama”-style. Cocker and the band became reluctant figures in the Britpop movement, and were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 1994 for His ‘n’ Hers; they won the prize in 1996 for Different Class and were nominated again in 1998 for This Is Hardcore. Pulp headlined the Pyramid Stage of the Glastonbury Festival twice and were regarded among the Britpop “big four”, along with Oasis, Blur and Suede.

This is the full-length studio cut.  After the lyrics is a shortened version but you can see the band.

She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge,
She studied sculpture at Saint Martin’s College,
That’s where I,
Caught her eye.
She told me that her Dad was loaded,
I said “In that case I’ll have a rum and coca-cola.”
She said “Fine.”
And then in thirty seconds time she said,

I want to live like common people,
I want to do whatever common people do,
Want to sleep with common people,
I want to sleep with common people,
Like you.

Well what else could I do
I said “I’ll see what I can do.”

I took her to a supermarket,
I don’t know why,
But I had to start it somewhere,
So it started there.
I said pretend you’ve got no money,
She just laughed and said,
“Oh you’re so funny.”
I said “Yeah?
Well I can’t see anyone else smiling in here.
Are you sure you want to live like common people,
You want to see whatever common people see,
Want to sleep with common people,
You want to sleep with common people,
Like me.

But she didn’t understand,
She just smiled and held my hand.
Rent a flat above a shop,
Cut your hair and get a job.
Smoke some fags and play some pool,
Pretend you never went to school.
But still you’ll never get it right,
‘Cause when you’re laid in bed at night,
Watching roaches climb the wall,
If you called your Dad he could stop it all.

Yeah, you’ll never live like common people,
You’ll never do whatever common people do,
You’ll never fail like common people,
You’ll never watch your life slide out of view,
And dance and drink and screw
Because there’s nothing else to do.

Sing along with the common people,
Sing along and it might just get you through.
Laugh along with the common people,
Laugh along even though they’re laughing at you,
And the stupid things that you do.
Because you think that poor is cool.

Like a dog lying in a corner,
They will bite you and never warn you,
Look out, they’ll tear your insides out.
‘Cause everybody hates a tourist,
Especially one who thinks it’s all such a laugh,
Yeah and the chip stain’s grease,
Will come out in the bath.

You will never understand
How it feels to live your life
With no meaning or control
And with nowhere left to go.
You are amazed that they exist
And they burn so bright,
Whilst you can only wonder why.
Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Smoke some fags and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school,
But still you’ll never get it right
‘Cause when you’re laid in bed at night
watching roaches climb the wall,
If you called your dad he could stop it all
Yeah

You’ll never live like common people
You’ll never do what common people do
You’ll never fail like common people
You’ll never watch your life slide out of view
And then dance and drink and screw
Because there’s nothing else to do

I want to live with common people like you…..

Songwriters: Candida Doyle / Jarvis Branson Cocker / Nick Banks / Russell Senior / Stephen Patrick Mackey