On Her Silver Jubilee
The Jubilee which the song commemorates was in 1977, and so it was composed some time before it first surfaced on the 1979 album, If I Knew Who the Enemy Was. Its late arrival didn't matter however - ignoring the topicality, the song remains a highlight of the album, a lengthy, perceptive and at times funny portrait of a woman who seems to play at being queen, while the rest of us stand and gawp. Leon is revelling in his subject matter here, penning line after line, exploring, ridiculing and pondering the marvel of it all, with some of his characteristic word play surfacing in lines contemplating the narrator's poverty, where he references the rattle of the stairs and the stare of the rats. (The images of the Queen cycling down the Strand and playing maracas in the Ivy Benson Band are unforgettable!)
It is interesting to consider that Leon's collaborators on these sessions, Martin Carthy and Roy Bailey, would both be offered - and accept - MBEs from her majesty. (Bailey later renounced his.)
The song was re-recorded for the 2010 album, The Liberty Tree, close to the Queen's diamond jubilee, and featured in the live show filmed for DVD the following year, which was released in 2014. As the song goes, her majesty is reigning still today!
Update: September 2022. No she isn't.
It is interesting to consider that Leon's collaborators on these sessions, Martin Carthy and Roy Bailey, would both be offered - and accept - MBEs from her majesty. (Bailey later renounced his.)
The song was re-recorded for the 2010 album, The Liberty Tree, close to the Queen's diamond jubilee, and featured in the live show filmed for DVD the following year, which was released in 2014. As the song goes, her majesty is reigning still today!
Update: September 2022. No she isn't.
"My contribution to the cheers and hurrahs of 1977 to celebrate the Queen's achievement in sitting on the throne for 25 years without falling off. It was first performed, appropriately, at the People's Jubilee in Alexandra Palace and has not, I suppose, enhanced my chances of a knighthood." - LR (sleevenotes to Guess What They're Selling at the Happiness Counter, 1992)
“I wrote this song for the Communist Party’s People’s Jubilee at Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally as it’s commonly known) on 19 June, 1977... It was not, as some people thought, intended as an attack on the Queen as a person. In fact, I think the song shows some sympathy for a woman who has had no choice but to play a role she’s been forced into from childhood. I conceived it as a history of my (one-sided) relationship over twenty-five years with the Queen... I remember when she ‘ascended’ (drop the tune an octave) to the throne... Some sensitive souls objected to the imagery of the first verse. They’re way off the mark. It’s in an honourable tradition of robust political satire. And it was written intentionally in the style I might have used at the time of her coronation when I was enjoying the satirical verse of Alexander Pope.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p28-29)
“I wrote this song for the Communist Party’s People’s Jubilee at Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally as it’s commonly known) on 19 June, 1977... It was not, as some people thought, intended as an attack on the Queen as a person. In fact, I think the song shows some sympathy for a woman who has had no choice but to play a role she’s been forced into from childhood. I conceived it as a history of my (one-sided) relationship over twenty-five years with the Queen... I remember when she ‘ascended’ (drop the tune an octave) to the throne... Some sensitive souls objected to the imagery of the first verse. They’re way off the mark. It’s in an honourable tradition of robust political satire. And it was written intentionally in the style I might have used at the time of her coronation when I was enjoying the satirical verse of Alexander Pope.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p28-29)
Recordings
Version 1 (1979)
Version 2 (2010)
Version 3 (2011) Live performance, released in 2014
- If I Knew Who The Enemy Was
- Guess What They're Selling at the Happiness Counter
- The World Turned Upside Down
Version 2 (2010)
Version 3 (2011) Live performance, released in 2014