In a last-minute stab at redemption for an “interesting” year, a campaign has kicked off to get Asian Dub Foundation and Stewart Lee’s recent single, “Comin’ Over Here”, to hit No 1 in the UK charts precisely at the moment Brexit becomes official. The UK tradition of trying to get unlikely songs to No 1 at timely moments has a brief and mostly fruitless history. The one exception of course was back in 2009, when Rage Against the Machine’s holiday ditty, “Killing In The Name”, was pushed into the illustrious UK Christmas No 1 slot, beating out Simon Cowell’s teenage X Factor cash cow Joe McElderry. It was a glorious moment, never to be repeated.
This would be the most poetically opportune moment for a repeat performance. It would certainly send a strong message on behalf of the UK that some of us are OK sometimes. Asian Dub Foundation are certified veterans of the scene, having smashed out their mix of punk, dub, jungle and South Asian music for 27 years. Much of their music has directly addressed the experiences of being an immigrant in the United Kingdom and they are well known for their activism. Not likely to be playing any Proud Boys fundraisers, is what I’m trying to say.
The vocals for the track are sampled from a godly 2013 routine by stand-up comedian Stewart Lee which brutally takes apart the anti-immigration mindset. He runs through the waves of immigrants throughout history, from the Anglo Saxons to the Neanderthals to the first amphibians to ever crawl on land, applying British racist logic throughout.
“Bloody Indians, comin’ over here, inventing us a national cuisine”
“You come over here, Anglo Saxons, learn to speak the fucking language”
Both ADF and Stewart Lee have voices much of mainland Britain would probably rather not hear, especially at such a glorious moment for bigots the country over. Forcing them to confront the idiocy of their ways set to a punk dubstep hybrid soundtrack? Sounds like sweet justice to me. Of course it would merely be a symbolic victory, as racism in this country isn’t necessarily influenced by BBC Radio 1’s playlist. Still, sometimes a symbolic victory can be a moment of shared joy. No one thought that seeing Richard Spencer getting punched would make the world hold hands, but it still made people want to high-five strangers.
If you want to support this campaign, the download will be made available on Christmas Day and it needs to be purchased before 31 December to count in the charts. Follow Asian Dub Foundation and the campaign page on Facebook for further updates.
