This is not one of my greatest lyrics but it is 25 years old on the day I am writing this Ogblog piece.
I wrote the lyric in response to some banking cartel activity (allegedly) long since forgotten, upping bank charges for everyone.
Actually, rereading mine yesterday reminded me of one of Ivan Shakespeare’s great lyrics, written not long after. The opening line of Ivan’s piece:
Sometimes it’s hard to be a new man…
…building to the cracking initial chorus line/title…
Stand by your flan…
Mine seems pale in comparison, but here it is:
STAND BY YOUR BANK
(To the Tune of “Stand by Your Man”)
VERSES – PAUPER
(Perhaps the chorus, offstage during the verses, could harmonise by making “slide guitar wowing sounds” during the verses. The pauper should probably be “music hall cockney”)
Sometimes it’s hard to stay in credit,
When the wolves are knocking at your door;
The banks all tried to impress,
By paying me some interest,
And 5p made me feel less poor.
Then thoroughbreds lost on the bourses,
The better off dumped third world debt;
Those banks need easy action,
We’ll pay for each transaction,
They’ll charge whatever they can get.
CHORUSES – A WUNCH OF BANKERS
Stand by your bank,
We listen and we say yes,
This wunch of bankers largesse,
Extends to all our charges.
Stand by your bank,
We shall recoup our losses,
We’ve banked so much our assets shrank,
Stand by your bank.
Stand by your bank,
Don’t bother looking elsewhere,
Our charges all went up in rank,
Stand by your bank.
Here’s Tammy Wynette singing Stand By Your Man: