Ian Louis Harris

Paddy Ashdown was the leader of the Liberal Democrats at that time. The party wasn’t doing very well. Plus ca change (he writes in 2019)…

THANK DEVON FOR LIBERALS

(To the Tune of “Thank Heaven For Little Girls”)
 
INTRO
 
When Paddy Ashdown took the lead,
In 1987;
He saw the Parliamentary map,
And smiled and said,
 
CHORUS – PADDY ASHDOWN
 
Thank Devon for Liberals,
For Devon has the seats we tend to get;
Thank Devon for Liberals,
Tho’ my own Yeovil seat’s in Somerset.
 
Those by-election gains elsewhere that so astonish,
When it’s a general,
They stall,
And quickly vanish.
 
Thank Devon for Liberals,
Be thankful for Torquay,
Where we can hold our photo jogs,
Forget about the Fascist
Isle of Dogs.

Here is Maurice Chevalier singing Thank Heaven For Little Girls:

Here is a link to the lyrics of thank Heaven For Little Girls.

For some reason, the Labour Party had chosen the main theme from the fourth movement of Brahms’s first symphony as its party anthem at that time.

I like the symphony and the tune but wasn’t sure about it as a Labour motif.

I’m not sure when or if this one was used. The log says I wrote it 8 September but the electronic file is dated 23 October, so I might have tinkered or just resubmitted to the next run.

Some good lines, I think. And Brahms.

THE LABOUR CHORUS

(To the Tune of Brahms Symphony No 1 Mov IV, “Labour Theme” bit)
 
CHORUS 1
 
We’re the Labour chorus,
We’re not really that left wing;
The voters ignore us,
Because of the songs we sing;
As,
They find it a drag,
To hear the red flag,
They hate it irrational-ly;
And get a fright,
When the workers unite,
To sing the Internationale…….
 
CHORUS 2 (which starts two notes before the end of chorus 1)
 
…..We’re the Labour chorus,
The unions are up in arms;
Cos John Smith implored us,
To sing you a tune by Brahms;
Who,
Was bourgeois and dead,
And not very red,
Which is much like the Labour move-ment;
John Smith will gloat,
As he dumps the block vote,
To start to build Labour’s improvement………
 
CHORUS 3 (which starts two notes before the end of chorus 2)
 
…..We’re the Labour chorus,
We sing when we’ve drunk some jars;
This tune ought to bore us,
Cos we’ve only learnt twelve bars;
But,
We’re up in the polls,
And wait for our roles,
In the Government bathed in glor-y;
‘Tho’ in the end,
Half those voters intend,
To swop sides and vote bloody Tory!!!!

Here’s the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under James Levine playing that Brahms movement. The Labour Chorus theme emerges for the first time after 5’10”. Then it reappears periodically.

I tweaked this lyric and re-released it in the autumn of 1994:

THE LABOUR CHORUS AUTUMN 1994 REMIX
(To the Tune of Brahms Symphony No 1 Mov IV, “Labour Theme” bit)
CHORUS 1
We’re the Labour chorus,
We’re not really that left wing;
The voters ignore us,
Because of the songs we sing;
As,
They find it a drag,
To hear the red flag,
They hate it irrational-ly;
And get a fright,
When the workers unite,
To sing the Internationale…….
CHORUS 2 (which starts two notes before the end of chorus 1)
…..We’re the Labour chorus,
The unions are up in arms;
Cos Tony implored us,
To sing you a tune by Brahms;
Who,
Was bourgeois and dead,
And not very red,
Like John Smith, whom we gave applause for,
Tories will gloat,
Now we’ve dumped the block vote,
And started to row over clause four………
CHORUS 3 (which starts two notes before the end of chorus 2)
…..We’re the Labour chorus,
We sing when we’ve drunk some jars;
This tune ought to bore us,
Cos we’ve only learnt twelve bars;
But,
We’re up in the polls,
And wait for our roles,
In the Government bathed in glor-y;
‘Tho’ in the end,
Half those voters intend,
To swap sides and vote bloody Tory!!!!

I did another minor rewrite of this lyric in 1997. The reference to “Such” is Screaming Lord Such, who ran as a Monster Raving Loony in every election for decades.:

LABOUR CHORUS 1997 REMIX
To the Tune of Brahms Symphony No 1 Mov IV, “Labour Theme” bit)
CHORUS 1
We’re the Labour chorus,
We’re not really that left wing;
Some voters ignore us,
Because of the songs we sing;
As,
They find it a drag,
To hear the red flag,
They hate it irrational-ly;
And get a fright,
When the workers unite,
To sing the Internationale…….
CHORUS 2 (which starts two notes before the end of chorus 1)
…..We’re the Labour chorus,
The unions are up in arms;
Cos young Blaire implored us,
To sing you a tune by Brahms;
Who,
Was bourgeois and dead,
And not very red,
Which is much like the Labour move-ment;
Tony was sure,
That to chuck out Clause Four,
Was the way to Labour’s improvement………
CHORUS 3 (which starts two notes before the end of chorus 2)
…..We’re the Labour chorus,
We sing when we’ve drunk some jars;
This tune ought to bore us,
Cos we’ve only learnt twelve bars;
But,
We’re up in the polls,
And wait for our roles,
In the Government bathed in glor-y;
We’ve changed so much,
Might as well vote for Such,
Or swop sides and vote bloody Tory!!!!