Thursday, December 31, 2009

Skinhead Anthems

If you compile a list of perhaps the ten greatest Oi! songs, you will often find The Last Resort song "Violence in Our Minds" from their debut album "A Way of Life, Skinhead Anthems".

With the opening phrase:

"I was walking down the road with a dozen pals of mine
Looking for some aggro, just to pass the time
We met this stupid hippy and he tried to run away
But i punched him in the nose just to pass the time of day"

And its anthemic chorus, "Violence in Our Minds" stands out one of the bands best pieces of work.


BUT IT IS A COVER!
Originally recorded by Miles Wootton and released on the private press (Long Man Records) "Sunday Supplement World", "Skinheads" offers the meat of what would become "Violence in Our Minds". The Last Resort uses the verses from the Wootton song, and adds the anthemic chorus of "Violence in Our Minds." Wootton was a regular at Brighton and Hove's Standford Arms folk club in the 1960's and early 1970's.

Brighton and Hove, England's biggest seaside town is just a stones through away from Herne Bay, the birth place of The Last Resort. Perhaps it is the relative close proximity that led the lads in the Last Resort to listen to the mellow folk stylings of Miles Wootton, or perhaps it is a closer connection. I honestly couldn't tell you, that would be a question for the original line up of The Last Resort.

Anyway, here is a listen, enjoy: click to listen

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Add "English Rose" (Rivals ripoff) and "8 Pound A Week" (Squad cover) and I'm starting to question the originality of those boys in Last Resort.

miles wootton said...

I cannot really understand how the words of my song "Skinheads", written in 1970, assigned to Warlock Music soon after, recorded by me and others, have somehow been adopted and adapted by The Last Resort and numerous other "punk" bands. Evergreen Copyrights are investigating. Thanks for discovering all this, Timothy Radar and I would be very pleased to correspond with you if you send me your e-mail address. Regards-mileswootton@btinternet.com

Oi! said...

That's not the only one. Check out the Anti-Nowhere League song Wreck-A-Nowhere. It's very, very similar to The Soul Sisters' song Wreck a Buddy.

Coincidence? I don't think so.

Unknown said...

Miles, don't be a dick.

AliBan said...

Well said Sander. Oh so eloquent!

Urban Fallout said...

The original Resort didnt even write the rehash - it was re-written by a fan as an original piece and sent to the Resort without quoting the original. No one in the Resort knew it was a rip-off til 2010 when they got sent a copy of it.
I know this because i asked the original singer - Saxby - who now sings for The Warriors - who oddly also do the song live

timothy radar said...

@Urban Fallout, that is really interesting. So they just received it from a fan and went with it as their own?