Wednesday, September 12, 2012

I Saw a Man Who Danced With His Wife

Tried to post this on Labor Day, but I was having DivShare problems at the time.

But given the current events involving the teachers in Chicago this week, it seemed appropriate again.

So...from 1973, please enjoy Brit folk-rockers The Strawbs and their actual militantly pro-labor hit single "Part of the Union."




A song, I should add, that is pretty much unthinkable on the American pop charts, both then and now, but which remains a perennial in the UK along the lines of "Mull of Kintyre," fer crissakes.

And a song which I am sure deeply upset, both at the time and over the years, the odious Margaret Thatcher, then an obscure in America Tory rising star, rather than the single most batshit insane legitimately elected head of state of any advanced industrial democracy in the second half of the 20th century she ultimately became.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go teachers!!!!


ROTP(lumber)

buzzbabyjesus said...

I still have a mix tape with that song on it. I had the album, but I don't remember a thing about it.

JZ said...

Interesting that you put this up Steve. The Strawbs are currently touring and I was lucky enough to catch them Sunday night in Annapolis MD. Dave Cousins is terrific with the audience and the harmonies were angelic, I really enjoyed the show. It was nice to see an older act that doesn't sound like an older act and still has some of their original vibe. Dave also shed some light on the time Sandy Denny was with them prior to Fairport. He said the group had been signed to a Danish label and spent almost a year in Copenhagen. Sandy got home sick for England and once she returned the job with Fairport opened up.

Dave said...

I was in England when this was released as a single. The Strawbs and Slade and T-Rex shared the airwaves.

powerpopster said...

One of the best drinking sing-a-long songs ever! :) I always loved the Strawbs from when free-form FM started playing some of their more accesible tunes. POTU really was atypical Strawbs - I believe that it was written (and sung?) by Hudson-Ford, who later went on to release that one great solo track, "Take A Little Word."

swboy said...

The Strawb's "Lay Down" hits the power pop vibe pretty well...

Greyhoundude said...

Hudson & Ford released some catchy stuff after they left the Strawbs, including an interesting single called "Nice Legs (Shame About the Face)" as "The Monks."