To Love Somebody 💖

Knocking this post out in respect for my family whom I love so dearly💖 (even though they don't read this blog), I respect them, love them and not sure what I would do without them (or sometimes even with them to be honest!)🤪. Anyhow PRIDE is here in London and wanted to celebrate!  So in a joint celebration of love I dedicate this post to the family and to respect PRIDE, as per the title 'To Love Somebody', a track originally penned and recorded by The Bee Gees so long ago back in the Sixties, you can catch the original at the youtube link. It was 're-funked up' by Jimmy Sommerville (in the youtube link) on the London Records label in 1990 scoring a UK #10 in the charts of the day, and what a cover!. The awesome reggae back beat and his soulful countertenor voice accompanied by some marvellous backing vocals.

So, we popped along to PRIDE today joining the procession starting near Hyde Park Corner up towards Tottenham Court Road, it was busy and also despite the weather forecast saying it would be grey it turned out sunny and hot (glad I took my tit for tat!). It was a spectacular and colourful event, it was the first time I had been along and I was impressed with how everything seem to be handled from atmosphere to policing it all seemed to just go smoothly, the music and costumes and whole point of it is awesome. Glad to hear some of the passing floats blaring out some Communards/Jimmy Sommerville and Marc Almond sounds with tracks such as 'I Feel Love' and another disco classic covered by him 'You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)'.

To be honest I loved Bronski Beat and The Communards when I first heard 'Small Town Boy' in '84, even though back at the time in the U.K. it was considered by some to be 'gay' music (in other words you were probably gay to be bothered listening to it). I deliberately used to put Bronski Beat and The Communards for one of my 'friends' when it was my turn to drive, he hated it, which just made me turn it up louder! and usually meant I didn't get to drive again for a while!😁

There was back at the time so much non-acceptance by the 'knuckle dragging', ill informed people in Britain not helped of course by the government and right wing press which did nothing to disguise it's discomfort toward the whole gay scene, added to this there was of course the pressure of the AIDS epidemic which tore through the gay community and also as perhaps science of the day wasn't quite up with the causes and how it was transmitted which seemed to cause a lot of press 'mis-information' (something that the British newspapers are well accustomed to!). You can catch the story of  'How HIV Changed Britain' at the link to HistoryExtra.com.

Jimmy's voice was so unique and with such beautiful vocal range. The songs written all captured that feeling of 'real life' the Bronski's major hit 'Smalltown Boy' released in 1984 on the 'Forbidden Fruit' record label (evidently a sub-label of London Records). The track hitting the nail on the head relating to attitudes of the day about being gay in that to 'escape' the negative attitudes of parents and others in the community our 'hero of the song' has to escape and get away to a different part of the country to feel 'accepted'. It still goes on today tragically! The video accompanying the song highlights it so well. In 2021 he recorded a charity record supporting youth homelessness for a network of projects including Centrepoint which you can catch some more about in my previous post in this site at 'Save Me From Tomorrow!'.

With PRIDE it is good to see more 'acceptance', most major companies make efforts to promote and attend, shops all display LGBTQIA+ flags, in a way it seems like a bit of a jump on a 'corporate bandwagon' by businesses,  in that cynically you could argue companies 'sponsoring' it are out to promote themselves rather than what it actually means and stands for, it's not just me that thinks that either catch the article about 'Rainbow Capitalism' in The Independent online paper. However I guess if you turn it on it's head a little it also means that the big 'corporate machines' also have some duty to look after their staff and to be 'inclusive' in employment which from that perspective is a good thing. Good to see also that Billy Bragg changed the lyrics to his song 'Sexuality' in acceptance of not just gay but also non-binary, you can catch the original track on this site on my post 'The Bard Of Barking'.

Anyhooo to round of with another track by another band from the same year called King from way back in 1984 that I remember so well around the pubs and clubs of the day 'Love & Pride'. I actually got to see the singer Paul King in my local record shop at the time it was released signing autographs for the great unwashed, he would later go on to be Video Jockey on MTV.

Anyway, wishing a Happy PRIDE to you all!🏳️‍🌈And after a hot day we popped into a boozer in Soho to grab what my heart yearned for...

"That's what my heart yearns for now,

London Pride"

Picture Sources

Discogs.com

Discogs.com

Photo by Yoav Hornung on Unsplash 

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