England Belongs to Me
| England Belongs to Me | |
|---|---|
| Cock Sparrer | |
| publication | 1982 |
| length | 2:58 |
| Genre (s) | Oi! , Punk |
| Author (s) | Cock Sparrer |
| Label | Carrere |
England Belongs to Me is a song by the British Oi! -Band Cock Sparrer . It was released in 1982 as a single with B-side Argy Bargy via Carrere .
History of origin
After the band released an album and various singles, but could not achieve the necessary success, the group broke up in 1978. For several years on hold, several songs appeared on the two groundbreaking Oi! Compilations Oi! The Album and Strength Thru Oi! . In the meantime, also through the success of Sham 69 , the Cockney Rejects and Angelic Upstarts , an Oi! Scene flared up in the UK and interest in Cock Sparrer had grown again. The band got back together and released as an appetizer for their second album Shock Troops a single with the two songs England Belongs to Me and Argy Bargy , both of which did not appear on the album.
text
England Belongs to Me developed over the years into the cult song of Cock Sparrer, and the text is very often misunderstood. In 2012, the author collective Ingo Taler took the song in their work Out of Step as an example of the “undisguised propagated patriotism ” of the skinhead movement. The song was also occasionally picked up by neo-Nazis. In fact, the band wanted to express exactly the opposite: The song was written under the impression that gigs by Cock Sparrer were quite often attended by right-wing skinheads who misused the Union Jack for their own purposes. As early as 1982 in Sounds , they declared that it would not be about national pride, but about "bringing back the flag from the Nazis that they want to drag in the mud."
“When we wrote“ England belongs to me ”all we wanted to say was that this is our country. It doesn't belong to the royal family, politicians, or the rich. Love it, be proud of it and do what you can to change what's wrong. Most people understand what we're trying to say and sing with us no matter where we are, Steve Burgess says it took 30 minutes to write the song and 30 years to defend it. "
Cover versions
The MMA fighters Dan Hardy used in the UFC England Belongs to Me as run music. When the band found out about this in 2010, they invited him to the studio to record a new version of the song with him on vocals. He first used this new version on March 27, 2010 at the major UFC 111 event.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cock Sparrer. Laut.de , accessed on October 22, 2013 .
- ^ Ingo Taler: Out of Step . Hardcore punk between rollback and neo-Nazi adaptation. series of anti-fascist texts / UNRAST-Verlag , Hamburg / Münster 2012, ISBN 978-3-89771-821-0 , p. 36 .
- ↑ Mader, Matthias: Oi! The Book Vol. 1 , Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-931624-02-1 . P. 40
- ↑ a b Micha: Cock Sparrer Interview . In: Plastic Bomb . 2008 ( plastic-bomb.eu ).
- ^ In the studio with Cock Sparrer. Dan Hardy , March 4, 2010, accessed October 22, 2013 .