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THERE WE WERE, sitting in the student cafeteria at Otago University back in early 1983, talking about the good old days when all three of us, in one guise or another, were supporters of "The Revolution", and
contrasting our red past with our pink present. Each of us was serving on the campaign
committee of a Labour Party candidate: Me in Dunedin North, Brian in Dunedin West and Ian, if I remember rightly, in Wellington Central. We all shook our heads, laughing wryly at our respective excuses, and I
felt a song coming on …
We’re All Working For A Labour Victory
(Sung to the tune of Cliff Richard’s Summer Holiday.)
We’re all working for a Labour Victory,
No more Trotsky, no more Lenin or Mao.
We’re all working for a Labour Victory
I’m glad the comrades cannot see us now.
We all used to carry placards,
We all used to hurl abuse.
But now the Marxist vanguard
Just murmurs ‘What’s the use?’
Chorus
We all used to think that the workers
Would follow our clarion call,
But we’ve given up the Revolution
To go canvassing door-to-door.
Chorus
We’re told that ambition is a good thing
But we’re warned that dissension is a sin,
So we’ve learned to turn the rhetoric down
When David’s listening in.
Chorus
But it hasn’t all been plain-sailing,
The conservatives shook their heads,
When we forced through a remit requiring
Retirement homes for Reds.
We’re all working for a Labour victory,
No more Trotsky, no more Lenin or Mao.
We’re all working for a Labour victory,
I’m glad the comrades cannot see us now.
(I’m glad the comrades cannot see!)
Chris Trotter
1983
This posting is exclusive to the Bowalley Road blogsite.
My first thought about the song was something like "Oh dear, why didn't he leave it dead".
ReplyDeleteThen I found on the Internet a recording of Summer Holiday and decided it actually was pretty good when you had the music.
I'm still not sure you would have got a job in the Brill Building though.
I felt much the same at that time (perhaps less red as I'm older) - now I see the left as a waste of time, a political position that simply doesn't work and as soon as it senses the inevitable failure coming on, wants to force people to do what it thinks is correct. Probably the worst thing about being left is that there is always some self righteous person who is more left than you and whom you hate more than the right.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have been considerably thinner then Chris.....
Weren't we all, Anonymous, weren't we all.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's right, Alwyn, you have to have the music in your head to enjoy it.
Perhaps I should post a clip of Cliff singing the original to help people get into the swing of it.
What's the difference between Cliff Richard and Chris Trotter?
ReplyDeleteThe odd posturing petulant paddy not withstanding,
Chris is still riding the same old bus
"now I see the left as a waste of time, a political position that simply doesn't work and as soon as it senses the inevitable failure coming on, wants to force people to do what it thinks is correct"
ReplyDeleteWhat a charming little outlook.
So what do we go for, law of the jungle?
Love the left and all the undeniable silly pretentious shit that goes with it. We are standing in the road trying to wrestle down the juggernaut and one day probably long after I am dead we will certainly prevail.
On the subject of things past, I'll mention in case it wasn't your doing, that the post you made earlier this month "Quiet Sunday Afternoon In Blockhouse Bay" has vanished.
ReplyDeleteI was going to mention that the Hello Sailor music video someone linked to was filmed in Belmont, not Blockhouse Bay, and that Blockhouse Bay is one of the cheapest suburbs in Central Auckland, not one of the most expensive as another commenter implied.
To: Anonymous@8:20
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip about the Blockhouse Bay posting - all restored now.