Song of the Day 10/14: Pulp, “Common People”

Guest post by Nathan Arizona

Jarvis Cocker of the British band Pulp was once at a party when a posh girl asked him how to “live like common people do.” He felt a little insulted by the patronizing, but he got a tune called “Common People” out of it. It turned out to be the band’s most popular song.

It takes a swipe at the upper classes and was seen as an implied dig at John Major’s conservative government. The “common people” were feeling a bit trod upon.

Pulp was one of the big three bands of Britpop, along with Oasis and Blur. Rolling Stone once called “Common People” the greatest of all Britpop songs. In a BBC poll, listeners in the UK voted it their favorite tune of the Britpop era.

The colorful video was as highly regarded as the song. Cocker champions the common people in what might be called a slightly foppish but ironic way. Pretty much the opposite of another working-class hero, Liam Gallagher of Oasis.

It might sound weird, but one of the best versions of “Common People” is by Captain Kirk – I mean William Shatner. Radio station WXPN is conducting a listener survey to determine the 885 best cover songs ever. Shatner’s cover of “Common People” deserves a high place on the list.

I went into this thinking his version would be just a funny add-on. Shatner’s covers back then were kind of an ongoing joke, to be sure. But this one has something more.

In the video, produced by Ben Folds, Shatner is joined by hard-driving band the Members and he beams up Joe Jackson for the difficult singing parts. Shatner himself kind of talks his portion, but his dramatic reading of pop lyrics is crucial. Don’t forget, he was sometimes a Shakespearean actor before helming the Enterprise. And toward the end of the video: Spock.

Jarvis Cocker was a celebrity in his own right. He spoofed his image as a guest star on Sasha Baron Cohen’s Ali G television show. There’s a lot of Ali G in this video, but Cohen’s comedy is always worth watching. The song is “Help the Aged.”

The Michael Jackson reference alludes to the time Cocker crashed the stage and shook his rear end at Jackson during his performance of “Earth Song.” He perceived Jackson as “pretending to be Jesus.”

After watching a video of Jackson’s pretentious presentation – he’s surrounded by fawning supplicants – I say, “Good for you, Jarvis.” Cocker hits the stage at 4:44, entering from backstage to your left. The show goes on for another cringe-inducing five minutes after he’s ushered off. You really have to see it to believe it.