Battle Hymn of the Liberal Revival
[also known as "Liberal Party Revival Song"]
This spoof rallying call on behalf of Britain's Liberal Party, once a major political force but by the 1960s a limp third in the parliamentary pecking order, has Leon poking fun at their middle way, and the absurdity of trying to find a centre ground between two (supposedly) opposing ideologies.
This is one of a clutch of Leon's songs to appear on the 1964 LP, Vote For Us, in a live version played through on banjo and bass, with Leon taking a back seat in the shared vocal arrangement. The song is otherwise unknown except as sheet music.
When printed in Look Here (1968), there was some tinkering with the words to verse 1. The song style is reminiscent of a Salvation Army chorus, and the amended lyric contains the new lines, "With our gallant band of men / marching onwards up to ten", reminiscent of the Army's "Onward Christian Soldiers". The song title was also changed (to "Liberal Party Revival Song"), presumably because it clashed with "Battle Hymn of the New Socialist Party", although when that song had immediately preceded it on Vote For Us, the 1964 solution was to re-name the latter!
This is one of a clutch of Leon's songs to appear on the 1964 LP, Vote For Us, in a live version played through on banjo and bass, with Leon taking a back seat in the shared vocal arrangement. The song is otherwise unknown except as sheet music.
When printed in Look Here (1968), there was some tinkering with the words to verse 1. The song style is reminiscent of a Salvation Army chorus, and the amended lyric contains the new lines, "With our gallant band of men / marching onwards up to ten", reminiscent of the Army's "Onward Christian Soldiers". The song title was also changed (to "Liberal Party Revival Song"), presumably because it clashed with "Battle Hymn of the New Socialist Party", although when that song had immediately preceded it on Vote For Us, the 1964 solution was to re-name the latter!
"It would hardly be fair to leave out the hermaphrodites of modern British politics." - LR (Look Here (songbook), 1968)
Recordings
Version 1 (1964)
Sheet music
- Look Here p26 [as "Liberal Party Revival Song"]