Love Of The Common People

This is the best song for Paul young

the lyrics speak for themselves - the best part of this song is the female backing vocals, especially on the original 12" extended version. This was the first 12" I bought and I still like the sounds and mix.

It's really cool

"Love of the Common People" is a folk ballad written and composed by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins and first released in January 1967 by The Four Preps.[1] It has been covered most successfully by soul group The Winstons, reggae singer Nicky Thomas and English white soul singer Paul Young. It was also a huge hit in Ireland for showband star Joe Dolan. The lyrics tell a bleak story of poverty and joblessness. There is a mention of "free food tickets," a reference to government food stamp and welfare programs, and the lyrics also describe the subject family as having holes in their clothes. Though Wilkins and Hurley did not expressly say so in the lyrics, the song is also a protest of what they saw as the failure of the American government to do more for the poor and unemployed than it already had. Nicky Thomas recorded a Joe Gibbs-produced reggae version of the song in 1970, which sold over 175,000 copies in the United Kingdom and reached number 9 in the UK Singles Chart.It was Thomas's only major hit single, and, according to Steve Leggett of Allmusic, "practically defines the term 'pop reggae.'"In 1982 Paul Young released his interpretation of "Love of the Common People" as a single, but it, initially, failed to chart. It was only when Young had his first hit in 1983 with "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)" and the single was re-released that it became a big hit. The single peaked at #2 in the UK, and reached the number one spot in Ireland and the Netherlands. This version also contained a solo by influential ska and reggae trombonist Rico Rodriguez. On Stiff Little Fingers's re-mastered Now Then... album, there is an interview with Jake Burns where he re-calls Paul Young met Stiff Little Fingers at one of their concerts in Dunstable in support of the album in which Young asked Burns were Stiff Little Fingers planning to release the song as a single. When Burns told them they weren't, Young asked if they minded him releasing it as a single. They said he could, not thinking the single would do well. Burns then says jokingly in the interview, "Pfft! Go ahead. You'll never get anywhere with that, mate. Yeah, number 2, that'll teach me!"

First few times i heard this i thought that line was "Watering the milk from a hole in the roof etc etc"

I assumed they were so dreadfully poor they had no running water and had to eke out the milk with rainwater!