Tubthumping

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"Tubthumping"
Single by Chumbawamba
from the album Tubthumper
Released 11 August 1997 (UK)
Recorded 1996
Genre Dance rock, alternative rock
Length 3:34
Label EMI
Chumbawamba singles chronology
"Ugh! Your Ugly Houses!"
(1995)		 "Tubthumping"
(1997)		 "Amnesia"
(1998)

"Tubthumping" is a song by the English band Chumbawamba. The single release went to #2 on the UK Singles Chart, #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and #1 on the Italian Singles Chart. The cover art for the single is based on the logo for the manufacturing company of Arm & Hammer. The song is often misnamed as "I Get Knocked Down", since the word "Tubthumping" is never said in the song.

The liner notes on the album Tubthumper, from which "Tubthumping" was the first single, puts the song in a radical context, quoting a UK anti-road protester, Paris 1968 graffiti, details about the famous McLibel case and the short story "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner". The album version of the song opens with a sample of a monologue performed by Pete Postlethwaite in the movie Brassed Off:

Truth is, I thought it mattered. I thought that music mattered. But does it bollocks! Not compared to how people matter.

Near the end of the song, the melody of the Prince of Denmark's March is played on a trumpet.

"Tubthumping" was number 12 on Rolling Stone's list of the 20 Most Annoying Songs.[1]

In the UK, a tubthumper is a politician.[2] The U.S. equivalent of tubthumping is "going on the stump" (campaigning).

The band did a few versions in other languages, for example in French which played in Quebec.[citation needed]

A reference to "pissing the night away" is British slang for wasting time. A 'radio-friendly' UK version was also recorded using 'kissing the night away' instead of 'pissing'.[citation needed]

In late 90s, the band received an offer of $1.5 million dollars from Nike to use the song in a World Cup advertisement.[3] According to the band it took about "thirty seconds to say no."[3]

"Weird Al" Yankovic covered portions of this song in his song "Polka Power!".

Contents

[edit] Single Versions

12" Promo (Universal, 1997)

  1. "Tubthumping (MAWR Mix)"
  2. "Tubthumping (Original album mix)"
  3. "Tubthumping (Timeshard Mix)"
  4. "Tubthumping (Gunshot Mix)"

CD 1 single (EMI, 1997)

  1. "Tubthumping"
  2. "Farewell to the Crown" (featuring Oysterband)
  3. "Football Song"
  4. "Tubthumping (Butthumping Mix)"
  5. "Tubthumping (Danny Boy Remix)"

CD1 single (EMI, 1997)

  1. "Tubthumping"
  2. "Tubthumping (Butthumping Mix)"
  3. "Tubthumping (Danny Boy Remix)"
  4. "Tubthumping (MAWR Mix)"
  5. "Tubthumping (Timeshard Mix)"
  6. "Tubthumping (Gunshot Mix)"

[edit] Music Video

A music video was released to promote the single, and it can be seen here. In television, the song made an appearance on The Simpsons where Homer can be heard singing part of the song while drunk.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rolling Stone
  2. ^ The meaning of the word "tub-thumper" in The Free Dictionary
  3. ^ a b Klein, Naomi No Logo New York. Picador. 2000. pg 301

[edit] External links

Preceded by
"Walkin' on the Sun" by Smash Mouth		 Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single
1 November 1997 - 3 December 1997		 Succeeded by
"Everything to Everyone" by Everclear
v • d • e
Chumbawamba
Lou Watts • Boff Whalley • Neil Ferguson • Jude Abbott • Phil Moody
Dunstan Bruce • Danbert Nobacon • Alice Nutter • Harry Hamer • Paul Greco • Mavis Dillon
Albums
Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records (1986) • Never Mind the Ballots (1987) • English Rebel Songs 1381-1914 (1988) • Slap! (1990) • Shhh (1992) • Anarchy (1994) • Swingin' with Raymond (1995)  • Tubthumper (1997) • WYSIWYG (2000) • Readymades (2002)  • English Rebel Songs 1381-1984 (2003)  • Un (2004)  • A Singsong and a Scrap (2005)  • The Boy Bands Have Won (2008)
Compilations & Soundtracks
First 2 (1994)  • Uneasy Listening (1998)  • Shhhlap! (2003)  • Revengers Tragedy sdtk (2003)
Live Albums
Showbusiness! (1995)  • Get On With It! (2006)
Singles and EPs
"Revolution" (1985) • "We Are The World?" (1986) • "Let It Be" (1987) • "Smash Clause 28! Fight the Alton Bill!" (1988) • "I Never Gave Up" (1990)  • "(Someone's Always Telling You How To) Behave (1992)"  • "Enough is Enough" (with MC Fusion) (1993)  • "Timebomb" (1993)  • "Homophobia" (1994)  • "Ugh! Your Ugly Houses!" (1995)  • "i - Portraits of Anarchists" EP (1996)  • "Just Look at Me Now" (1996)  • "Tubthumping" (1997)  • "Amnesia" (1998)  •  • "Top of the World (Ole, Ole, Ole)" (1998)  • "She's Got All The Friends That Money Can Buy" (2000)  • "Jacob's Ladder (Not In My Name)" (2002)  • "Tubthumping (Remix)" (2003)  • "Home With Me" (2003)  • "Salt Fare North Sea" (2003)  • "Add Me" (2007)
Related
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubthumping"
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