Station_2_Common_People

//Station #2: Common People // __CONTEXT __ The song //Common People//, performed and written by English alternative rock band Pulp, was released in 1995. The band states that the song “rails against the most ignorant of the upper class,” whom either “want to be like common people, under the false presumption that the poor have it easy,” or ascribe to “the glamorization of poverty.” In Europe, this phenomenon in referred to as “bohemian slumming” and “class tourism.”

The song was covered by former //Star Trek// star William Shater on his album //Has Been//, produced by Ben Folds. Shatner’s version made it onto //Billboard// magazine’s //Hot 100// and placed at “Number 24” on //Rolling Stone// magazine’s “Best Songs of 2004.” Shatner clearly did not write the lyrics. Yet, in interviews, he refers to the words as “autobiographical.”

In 2007, a ballet called //Common People//, set to the song, was produced by Margo Sappington and performed by the Milwaukee Ballet (itself comprised of impoverished dancers, yearning to contribute to the arts //without want for profit).//


 * First, watch the following short video clip at your station. Click [[file:Bush Scanner Edited (ATV).m4v|here]]. **

**Next, cue the song below. (To accommodate different computers, the song may be listened to in any one of the following three, separate file formats: AAC/iTunes, .MP3, or .WAV. __If one doesn't play, try another!__)** As you listen, **__annotate the lyrics__ ** in your pamphlet, making note of **__specific statements__ ** that strike you as **__having Marxist undertones__. **

media type="file" key="Common People.m4a" width="300" height="50"
 * AAC/iTunes File **

media type="file" key="Common People.mp3" width="240" height="20"
 * <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 20px;">.MP3 File **

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">media type="file" key="Common People.wav" width="300" height="50" <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">LYRICS: <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">She came from Greece. She had a thirst for knowledge. <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">She studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College—that’s where I caught her eye. <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">She told me that her Dad was loaded. <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">I said, “In that case, I’ll have a rum and Coca-Cola. <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">She said, “Fine.” And in thirty seconds time she said, <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">“I want to //live// like common people, <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">I want to do whatever common people do, <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">I want to //sleep// with common people— <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">I want to sleep with common people. . . like //you//. . . “ <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Well, what else could I //do?// <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">I said, “I’ll see what I can do.”
 * <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 20px;">.WAV File **

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">I took her to a supermarket. <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">I don’t know why, but I had to start it somewhere—so it started there. <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">I said, “Pretend you’ve got no money. <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">She just laughed and said, “Oh, you’re so //funny!”// <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">I said, “Yeah? Well I can’t see //anyone// else smiling in here. ..

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">“Are you sure you want to live like common people? <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">You want to see whatever common people see? <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">You want to sleep with common people? <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">You want to sleep with common people like me?” <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">But she. . . didn’t “understand.” She just smiled and held my hand.

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">[Narrator shouting at his “date.”] <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">“Rent a //flat// above a shop! <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Cut your hair and //get a job!// <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Smoke some fags, then play some pool— <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Pretend you //never// went to school! <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">But still you’ll //never// get it right <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">When you’re laid in bed at night, <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Watching roaches climb your wall. <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">If you call your Dad, he could stop it all. <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">You’ll //never// live like common people. <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">You’ll never do what common people do. <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">You'll never //fail// like common people— <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">You'll never watch your life //slide// out of view— <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">And dance and drink and screw because there’s nothing else to do.”

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">[Narrator rallying his audience of “common people” to a revolt] //<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Sing along with me, //<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;"> common people! <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Sing along and it might just get you //thru!// //<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Laugh along with me common people! // <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Laugh along, even though they’re laughing at you <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">And the “stupid things” that you do. <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Because “//You//

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">[Narrator to his “date”] <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Think that poor is //‘cool.’”// <span style="display: block; font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 20px; text-align: center;">* * * * * <span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Now take note of the still pictures below. Consider the **__meaning__** of these images.







<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">Finally, **__engage in a small-group discussion__**. Each member of the group **__must contribute to the process by fulfilling an assigned role__**. Then, in a thoughtful, “MEL-style” short essay response, answer this question:

<span style="font-family: Garamond,serif; font-size: 15pt;">What **__specific information__** should a Marxist critic consider in an analysis of this text? Using that information as **__evidence__**, what **__meaning__** can //we// make of this text, **__using Marxist tenets as our “lenses”__**?