Where are the Barricades?
A topical song dealing with the seemingly never-ending crisis of the capitalist system, which blundered into a new downturn with the global 'credit crunch' which started around 2008. The song really addresses the Marxist theory that when inequality reaches a certain point, the population would be expected to rise up and rebel - and yet, in the factual situation of the time, the rich are sitting pretty. So what happened to the idea of mass resistance, and where is the revolutionary movement to overthrow the system?
The song was originally “released” as a filmed live performance on Leon’s YouTube channel. When he recorded it a year later for The World Turned Upside Down, he decided to make some alterations to the lyric, dropping the second verse and re-writing most of the fifth (now the fourth) to include lines about the current spending cuts and the government’s ludicrous claim that “we are all in it together”. (The YouTube version is, therefore, the only place the original lyric can be heard.)
A stage performance has also been made available, on the 2014 DVD, essentially with the second draft lyric but putting the then recent protests into the past tense. Finally, Leon recorded a definitive and cleaner sounding version of the song for his 2016 album, where it became the title track.
One detail of the lyric worth mentioning is Leon’s revival of the line, “The stairs are beginning to rattle and the rats are beginning to stare” – a neat piece of word play previously heard in “On Her Silver Jubliee” back in 1977.
The song was originally “released” as a filmed live performance on Leon’s YouTube channel. When he recorded it a year later for The World Turned Upside Down, he decided to make some alterations to the lyric, dropping the second verse and re-writing most of the fifth (now the fourth) to include lines about the current spending cuts and the government’s ludicrous claim that “we are all in it together”. (The YouTube version is, therefore, the only place the original lyric can be heard.)
A stage performance has also been made available, on the 2014 DVD, essentially with the second draft lyric but putting the then recent protests into the past tense. Finally, Leon recorded a definitive and cleaner sounding version of the song for his 2016 album, where it became the title track.
One detail of the lyric worth mentioning is Leon’s revival of the line, “The stairs are beginning to rattle and the rats are beginning to stare” – a neat piece of word play previously heard in “On Her Silver Jubliee” back in 1977.
“The financial crisis of 2008, the worst since the depression of the 1930s, has shaken the pillars of the capitalist system but, as Karl Marx might be puzzled to hear, it hasn’t toppled them. ‘Where Are The Barricades?’ is a response to that, with a bit of updating to take in the coalition’s policy of cuts, cuts, cuts.” - LR (sleevenotes to The World Turned Upside Down (CD box set), p65)
"When I wrote this song England was the only country in Europe that had not had protests against the ['austerity'] cuts. Since then, since I wrote it, there have been protests, there've been demonstrations, there've been marches, there've been students and school children even in the streets because of the government's cutting Education Maintenance Allowance which helps kids from 15 to 17 to keep in education - all those things. And I like to think that's all because I wrote this song." - LR (introduction to the song on the DVD, No Gods No Masters (2014))
"When I wrote this song England was the only country in Europe that had not had protests against the ['austerity'] cuts. Since then, since I wrote it, there have been protests, there've been demonstrations, there've been marches, there've been students and school children even in the streets because of the government's cutting Education Maintenance Allowance which helps kids from 15 to 17 to keep in education - all those things. And I like to think that's all because I wrote this song." - LR (introduction to the song on the DVD, No Gods No Masters (2014))
Recordings
Version 1 (2010) Filmed solo performance with original lyrics
Version 2 (2011)
Version 3 (2011) Live performance, released in 2014
Version 4 (2016)
Version 2 (2011)
Version 3 (2011) Live performance, released in 2014
Version 4 (2016)