Song of the Day 5/1: The Motown Manifestos, “Papa Was a Running Dog Lackey of the Bourgeoisie”

Happy International Workers’ Day, or la Fête du Travail as the government here prefers to call it. Workers just call it May Day.

John Lennon once remarked that “Imagine” was basically the Communist Manifesto set to music, but he didn’t quote that document directly. This song does.

The tune was part of the National Lampoon’s satirical “Lemmings” stage show, a sometimes-nasty Lampooning of Woodstock and popular musicians of the day. It quotes extensively from an English translation of the 1848 document, though if memory serves “the bourgeoisie is a jive turkey” wasn’t in there.

The lead vocals are by Paul Ross Jacobs, a Julliard-trained organist who was musical director for the “Lemmings” show; he co-wrote the song with Tony Hendra, the English comedian most familiar to American audiences as Spinal Tap’s manager, Ian Faith.

Jacobs went on to a long career as musical director for Meat Loaf’s touring ensemble, while much of the rest of the cast, which included Chevy Chase, John Belushi and Christopher Guest, was soon to become famous as the Not Ready for Prime Time Players on “Saturday Night Live.”