"Political" is a song written by John Mann and recorded by Canadian

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

group

Spirit of the West Spirit of the West were a Canadian folk rock band from North Vancouver, active from 1983 to 2016. They were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which ma ...

. One of the band's most famous songs, it originally released in 1988 as the lead single from their second studio album ''

Labour Day Labour Day ('' Labor Day'' in the United States) is an annual holiday to celebrate the achievements of workers. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for ...

''. While it failed to chart as a single in 1988, it was re-recorded and released in October 1991 as the second single from their fifth studio album '' Go Figure'', peaking at number 70 in Canada in November 1991. In 1995, "Political" was included in the band's concert with the

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The VSO performs at the Orpheum, which has been the orchestra's permanent home since 1977. With an annual operating budget of $16 million, it is ...

. The version recorded at that show appears on their 1999

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

compilation ''

Hit Parade A hit parade is a ranked list of the most popular recordings at a given point in time, usually determined either by sales or airplay. The term originated in the 1930s; ''Billboard'' magazine published its first music hit parade on January 4, 1936 ...

''.

Background and writing

In a 1993 concert performance on

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programm ...

's ''

Mountain Stage ''Mountain Stage'' is a two-hour music radio show, first aired in 1983, produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting and distributed worldwide by National Public Radio (NPR). Hosted by Larry Groce from the show's inception until 2021 and current ...

'' series, Mann explained some of the song's backstory, stating that the song was written about a real relationship Mann had once had, which ended while the couple were travelling in New York City. This performance appears on the album ''

Upfront! Canadians Live from Mountain Stage ''Upfront! Canadians Live from Mountain Stage'' is an album released in 1994 on Blue Plate Music and BMG Music Canada, which compiles live performances by Canadian artists who have appeared on the American radio series ''Mountain Stage''. The al ...

''. It was later revealed in the book '' Have Not Been the Same: The Can-Rock Renaissance 1985-1995'' that the song was written about Mann's relationship with

Jean Smith Jean Isabel Smith (born 1959) is a Canadian writer, painter and the lead singer of the Vancouver band Mecca Normal. Career Music Smith co-founded Mecca Normal with bandmate David Lester in 1981, while the two were working together at a Vancouv ...

of the band

Mecca Normal Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valle ...

.Michael Barclay, Ian A.D. Jack and Jason Schneider, '' Have Not Been the Same: The Can-Rock Renaissance 1985-1995''.

ECW Press ECW Press is a Canadian book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named ''Essays on Canadian Writing''. They started publishing trade and scholarly book ...

. . In a later interview with

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

, Mann revealed that Smith once attended one of the band's shows after the release of the song; although they did not directly interact, she passed a brief note to him through the bartender: "John, it wasn't that bad."

Content

Despite the band's reputation for writing

politically Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

-themed songs, "Political" is in fact about the end of a personal romantic relationship. The verses detail the friction that led to the couple's breakup, and the chorus confirms that "Everything, every little thing, every little thing/With you and me had to be so political." Although the song was not a mainstream chart breakthrough for the band, it garnered them significant airplay on

CFNY CFNY-FM (''102.1 the Edge'') is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 102.1 Hertz, MHz in the Greater Toronto Area, licensed to the suburb of Brampton, Ontario, Brampton. CFNY plays an alternative rock format. Owned by Corus Entertainment, it ...

and

campus radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produce ...

stations throughout Canada. This expansion of the band's audience led to a major label deal with

Warner Music Canada Warner Music Canada is the Canadian division of Warner Music Group. The label previously operated as WEA Music of Canada, Ltd. (French: ''WEA Musique du Canada, Ltée''), often shortened to WEA Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of WEA Internationa ...

, who released the band's next studio album, '' Save This House'', in 1990.

1991 re-recording

In 1991, the band recorded a new rendition of the song. According to

Geoffrey Kelly Geoffrey Kelly (born October 23, 1956 in Dumfries, Scotland) is a Canadians, Canadian rock musician. He played guitars, flutes and bodhrán for the folk rock band Spirit of the West, for whom he was also the lead vocalist on some songs: Geoffrey ...

, the band's record company wanted the band to re-record and re-release the song because they felt it never had its chance to become a single. The band was against recording the song again because they liked the original version, and the band put off re-recording it until deciding to do so for their first rock album, '' Go Figure''. Kelly stated that their first attempted re-recording of the song felt "so lifeless", so the band decided to re-record the song with a lot of new instruments. Although the lyrics remained identical (except for the word "little" being dropped from the chorus), the melody was moderately different and the instrumentation was more electric and rhythm-heavy. Kelly stated that the new version of the song was "a lot more true to the relationship John had had with that particular individual." The 1991 version was released as a CD single, with the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

s "

Home for a Rest "Home for a Rest" is a song by Canadian folk rock band Spirit of the West from their fourth studio album '' Save This House'', released in 1990. It is the band's signature song and is considered a classic of Canadian music."Songs to drink away tho ...

", "Sad But True" and "Again and Again and Again". However, the new version proved controversial: at a concert in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

during their tour to promote that album, fans presented the band with a

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...

demanding that they play the original version of the song. As a result, on subsequent tours the band have always performed a third version of the song, which retained the rock instrumentation of the remake while reverting to the original melody.

Critical reception

In 1999, "Political" was named one of CFNY's "Top 1002 New Rock Songs of All Time", ranking 524th. It ranked immediately ahead of

The Verve Pipe The Verve Pipe is an American rock band from Michigan. It was formed in 1992 in East Lansing by Brian Vander Ark, Brian Stout and Donny Brown. History In November 1992, Brian Vander Ark of the band "Johnny with an Eye" signed a production dea ...

's "Photograph" in 525th place, and behind

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

's "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" in 523rd.

Charts

Weekly charts

Covers

During Spirit of the West's 2009 live performances opening for

Great Big Sea Great Big Sea was a Canadian folk rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year Irish, Scot ...

, the two bands frequently performed the song together, with Mann and Great Big Sea singer

Alan Doyle Alan Thomas Doyle (born May 17, 1969) is a Canadian musician and actor, best known as the lead singer of the Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea. Life and career Alan Doyle was born and raised in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, in a Roman Cath ...

alternating verses."A great Great Big farewell; Ottawa favourites, fans in high spirits at final show before band breaks for a while". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'', March 23, 2009. On November 23, 2019, The Watchmen performed the song live at their concert in Toronto as a tribute to John Mann, who had died three days before.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Political (Song) 1988 songs Spirit of the West songs