Tubthumping

"Tubthumping"
Single by Chumbawamba
from the album Tubthumper
Released	11 August 1997 (UK)
Recorded	1996
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	4:38 (album version) 3:34 (single edit)
Label	EMI Electrola Universal
Chumbawamba singles chronology
"Just Look at Me Now" (1996) "Tubthumping" (1997) "Amnesia" (1998)
Alternative cover 2003 version Music sample "Tubthumping"

"Tubthumping", informally known by its prominent lyric "I Get Knocked Down", is the title of a song released by the Anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba on 11 August 1997 through Universal Records and EMI Electrola. It was their most successful single, peaking at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. It was also their best performance in the U.S., peaking at #6 in November of 1997 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also claimed the top spot in Australia, Italy and on the U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Overview

The liner notes on the album Tubthumper, from which "Tubthumping" was the first single, put 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". "Tubthumping" was placed at #12 on Rolling Stone's list of the 20 Most Annoying Songs. Most recently, Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio ranked the song at #35 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, exclaiming as if in command, "Please, let's all keep knocking [Chumbawamba] down. I don't care what they say, eventually they'll stay down for good."

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

The band have performed the song with alternative lyrics on numerous occasions, notably when performing on the Late Show with David Letterman, a chant of "Free Mumia Abu-Jamal" accompanied only by a drumbeat preceded the final chorus. At the 1998 BRIT Awards, they performed the song with the added line "New Labour sold out the dockers, just like they'll sell out the rest of us" in protest at the New Labour government's refusal to support the Liverpool dockers' strike.

The album version of the song opens with a sample of a monologue performed by Pete Postlethwaite in the 1996 film Brassed Off: "Truth is, I thought it mattered; I thought that music mattered. But does it? Bollocks! Not compared to how people matter." The cover art for the single is based on the logo for the manufacturing company of Arm & Hammer.

The band received an offer of $1.5 million from Nike to use the song in a World Cup advertisement. According to the band it took about "thirty seconds to say no." They did, however, license the song to American video game company Electronic Arts for use as the opening theme of the game World Cup '98.

A French version of the song was produced for the French Canadian market.

The trumpet soloist, Jude Abbott plays in a jazz/pop style during her solos; however, she references the Baroque period piece Prince of Denmark's March at the end of the song.^{[citation needed]}

The song was played as the Flight Day 4 'wake up call' during the final Space Shuttle STS-135 mission and flight of Atlantis in July 2011 for astronaut Sandy Magnus

Tubthumping (Remix)

"Tubthumping (Remix)" was released in 2003 as a promotional CD by Chumbawamba on their MUTT Records label. The remixed version of their 1997 smash-hit Tubthumping was done by The Flaming Lips and Dave Fridmann. It's a slower version of the song, with a more minor key feeling to the music.

The other two songs on the CD were taken from the album Readymades and Then Some.

Track listings and formats

1. "Tubthumping" (remix) (by The Flaming Lips and Dave Fridmann)
2. "Salt Fare, North Sea" (vocal sample by Lal Waterson and Olly Knight)
3. "Jacob's Ladder (Not in My Name)" (vocal sample by Harry Cox from the song "The Pretty Ploughboy")

12" promo (Universal, 1997)

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

CD single 1 (EMI, 1997)

1. "Tubthumping" (original recording)
2. "Farewell to the Crown" (featuring Oysterband)
3. "Football Song"
4. "Tubthumping" (Butthumping mix)
5. "Tubthumping" (Danny Boy remix)

CD single 2(EMI, 1997)

1. "Tubthumping" (original/Invincible mix)
2. "Tubthumping" (Butthumping mix)
3. "Tubthumping" (Danny Boy remix)
4. "Tubthumping" (MAWR mix)
5. "Tubthumping" (Timeshard mix)
6. "Tubthumping" (Gunshot mix)

In popular culture

A fast Eurodance version of the song was created in 1998 as the beginning track for Dancemania SPEED.

The song was used in Scrubs in the episode "My Bed Banter & Beyond" in 2002 where J.D. sings the song in his head with a British accent.

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

Rock band Phish played a cover of this song as their encore, which made an appearance on their live album Hampton Comes Alive. The song was used in the Children in Need charity single by Peter Kay and it was sung by members of the Animated All Star Band.

Alvin and the Chipmunks covered this song for their 2007 video game Alvin and the Chipmunks.

The film Fired Up! features this song, and references to the band and song are made throughout the film.

The song was formerly used by Leeds United as their entrance music.

The song was also used in a season 2 episode of Chuck ("Chuck vs the Cougars") in a flashback of young Sarah Walker in San Diego, 1998.

Charts

Peak positions

Chart (1997)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)	1
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 75)	14
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)	9
Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia)	30
Canadian RPM Singles Chart	1
Canadian RPM Alternative 30	1
Dutch Singles Chart	16
France (SNEP)	38
Germany (Media Control AG)	11
New Zealand (RIANZ)	1
Norway (VG-lista)	2
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)	6
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)	14
UK Singles Chart	2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	6
U.S. Modern Rock Tracks	1
U.S. Top 40 Mainstream	1
U.S. Hot 100 Airplay	1

Year-end charts

Chart (1997)	Position
Australia	3
Canadian RPM Singles Chart	24
US Billboard Hot 100	69
Chart (1998)	Position
US Billboard Hot 100	35

See also

• List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1990s
• List of RPM Rock/Alternative number-one singles (Canada)
• List of number-one singles of 1997 (Ireland)
• List of number-one singles in 1997 (New Zealand)
• List of Mainstream Top 40 number-one hits of 1997 (U.S.)
• Number one modern rock hits of 1997
• Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks number-one hits of 1998

External links

• Chumbawamba - "Tubthumping" music video. Posted by Universal Records.
• Song Review, Allmusic
• They Might Be Giants cover "Tubthumping" for A.V. Club Undercover