I loved this song, my mum was a huge fan of Paul Young ( I think she fancied him a bit) but at the time I had no idea what most of the lyrics meant. I was a kid and more interested in what was on the front cover of Smash hits or attempting to record the latest music from the radio on chart night. As an adult these song lyrics bring a whole new world to light. A world in my eyes that hasnt gotten better since the release of this song in 1983
Love of the common people – Paul young (amongst others)
Living on free food tickets
Water in the milk from a hole in the roof
Where the rain came through
What can you do?
Tears from your little sister crying
Because she doesn’t have a dress without a patch for the party to go
Oh
But you know she’ll get by.
‘Cause she’s living in the love of the common people
Smiles from the heart of the family man.
Daddy’s gonna buy her a dream to cling to
And mama’s gonna love her just as much as she can and she can.
It’s a good thing you don’t have bus fare
It would fall through the hole in your pocket
And you’d lose it in the snow on the ground.
You gotta walk into town to find a job.
‘Trying to keep your hands warm when the hole in your shoe
Let’s the snow come through and it chills you to the bone
SONGWRITERS
HURLEY, JOHN / WILKINS, RONNIE
PUBLISHED BY
LYRICS © SONY/ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Firstly let me say that my family have never been well off. Thats not to say we were not a happy family but money is not something we had in abundance. And so we got used to IFFITS.. (if its in the cupboard we can eat it) and hand me downs from anywhere. I can remember the first pair of jeans I ever got, I must have been about 14 years old. At the time BROS were huge and although I loved them my mum wouldnt let me ruin those jeans 😦
As a mother I now have a better understanding of money and why I wasnt allowed to rip a perfectly good pair of jeans. Even if bros were doing it and the kids who had no idea what it was like to struggle financially did. Such is life.
So fast forward to 2016 (and yes I know Bros are organising a comeback tour-that wasnt intentional I promise) And I am married with one child. My husband works all week for a property company and I am frantically looking for a job. My son is at college.
And we could still do with free food tickets.
How is it in 2016 that people still need this?
We dont drink
smoke
go on holiday (we have been married 8 years and never had a honeymoon)
I still buy hand me down clothes (charity shops)
And we are not on the dole.. we are not scroungers..we are law abiding, tax paying people and we would be better off not working.
I am not politically sided with anyone because I think that 99% of politicians in this country have any idea on what it is like to live in the real world. They dont have to sit in a cold house (as I am doing right now) because I am afraid to put the heating on
They havent had to decide whether to put money into a overcharged gas meter or buy bread…
Or to decide if your child can have shoes this week.. or a new coat.
I am sorry but this is a reality for so many people in this country.
So today we get a bill from our council telling us we owe them a substantial amount of rent. They let it build up for 9 months before telling us. (we originally didnt pay rent due to low wages) They didnt tell us our circumstances had changed… (we didnt know they had.) And now we are stuck with a huge bill and no way of really paying it. Its less than two months till christmas. Its cold (we need more heating) and we are up a creek without a paddle. To be frank.
So what do we do, while dodging the threats to have us evicted?
not eat?
Only put the heating on for two hours a day instead of three we allow?
Living on free food tickets was as song that played throughout my childhood. But I never thought that 20+years down the line, in a working family we would be living this way.
after all
And mama’s gonna love her just as much as she can and she can.
wont pay the bills.