In honour of my writing this from Lib Dem spring conference in Birmingham, today’s (short) list is Pop Songs That Name Constituencies With Liberal Democrat MPs. It’s also inspired by the first entry on the list, which – bizarrely – was being sung outside the conference hotel in the early hours last night.
Despite our 63 MPs, few constituencies are likely to appear in song lyrics because they contain qualifiers (mainly compass points). So Brent East, Leeds North West, Bristol West, Cardiff Central and Oxford West and Abingdon are unlikely to feature.
I’ve managed to come up with six. Any additions in the comments please.
- Jackie by Scott Walker – Twickenham
- From Rochdale to Ocho Rios by 10cc – Rochdale
- Boston (Ladies of Cambridge) by Vampire Weekend – Cambridge (there must be more that mention Cambridge)
- Winchester by Emmy the Great – Winchester
- Chesterfield King by Jawbreaker – Chesterfield
- Taunton Exhibition by The Bus Station Loonies – Taunton
All right, I got the last couple from Google.
I hasten to add that Letter from America – Proclaimers should be included for Inverness, Badenoch and Strathspey….purely for the line Lochaber no more (which was included in the original boundary commission name)
Actually, it includes three, Mr Glenn… ‘Sutherland no more’… and ‘Skye no more’ too…
Surely there must be a Blur song that mentions Colchester?
And honorary mention to ‘Oh Blackpool’ by the Beautiful South. It may not mention any constituencies, but it is about the old Liberal Assembly and namechecks David Steel.
We may hold Hazel Grove and Cheadle, but sadly we have not yet taken the other constituency in that borough. A shame, because Frankie Vaughan’s “Stockport” is one of those records that really has to be heard to be believed.
I’m sure there must be a few Half Man Half Biscuit tracks that reference some of our held – and target – seats.
Mr Valladares Yeah it gets all too confusing with those seat near Inverness 😉
I was thinking of a Beautiful South song- Rotterdam. It has the line ‘Liverpool or Rome’ in. Although not a parlliamentary constituency, it is a very large coucnil that the Lib Dems run.
Of course after May we’ll be looking forward to adding the Proclaimers – Sunshine on Leith to the list 🙂