Chumbawamba member asks Bendigo councillor Elise Chapman to drop Tubthumping from campaign
A band member behind 1997 hit Tubthumping (I Get Knocked Down) has become the latest musician to demand a politician not use their music on the campaign trail.
Chumbawamba band member Dunstan Bruce has demanded Bendigo councillor Elise Chapman cease using the song in her bid for re-election to Bendigo’s council.
Cr Chapman posted a clip of the Chumbawamba song on her campaign Facebook page on Monday afternoon.
“One of my campaign anthems,” she wrote.
But in a post on his own Facebook page Friday morning, Mr Bruce said he had asked Cr Chapman to stop using the song.
Cr Chapman’s post has since been deleted.
The song also seemed to cause consternation among followers of Cr Chapman’s Facebook page, concerned about the politics of the band that recorded her anthem choice.
“Surely you don’t want to align yourself with dirty anarchists?” one Facebook user commented on Cr Chapman’s post.
“It’s really unfair how hard it is for those on the right to find appropriate music for their campaigns because few musicians concur with their views,” they continued to write.
Cr Chapman commented on the now-deleted post it was the lyrics she liked, not the band.
Speaking to the Bendigo Advertiser today, she reiterated it was the line “I get knocked down, but I get up again, you’re never gonna keep me down” with which she identified most strongly.
She said she was unaware the post had been taken down and that it may have been another of her page’s administrators who was responsible.
Asked whether she thought the song’s lyric “pissing the night away” was appropriate for a council campaign anthem, Cr Chapman explained she had believed the lyric was “missing the night away”.
It is not the first time a politician has been admonished for using Tubthumping.
In 2011, the band demanded British politician Nigel Farage, the then-leader of anti-immigration party UKIP, to stop using the song as a political anthem.
While she was unaware of Mr Farage’s history with the song, Cr Chapman said he was a “fantastic” politician.
“I like his style,” she said.
Chumbawamba’s request the councillor drop the Tubthumping clip from her page follows a similar move by performer Jimmy Barnes, who demanded last year Reclaim Australia not use his song, Working Class Man, at their rallies.
In the US, Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler also asked Republic presidential nominee Donald Trump to no longer play Dream On at campaign events.
Mr Bruce was contacted for comment.
Tubthumping by Chumbawamba
We'll be singing
When we're winning
We'll be singing
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down
Pissing the night away
Pissing the night away
He drinks a whiskey drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him of the better times
Oh, Danny Boy
Danny Boy
Danny Boy
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down
Pissing the night away
Pissing the night away
He drinks a whiskey drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him of the better times
Don't cry for me
Next door neighbor
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You're never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down
(We'll be singing)
But I get up again
You're never going to keep me down
(When we're winning)
I get knocked down
(We'll be singing)
But I get up again
You're never going to keep me down
(Ooh, ooh, ooh)