Jimmy Somerville (Bronski Beat) - Smalltown Boy | The story behind the song | Top 2000 a gogo
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 มี.ค. 2018
- Jimmy Somerville tells about the song 'Smalltown Boy' by Bronski Beat. A short documentary by Top 2000 a gogo (Dutch Public TV) from 2007.
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Love this fucken song. And im straight man. Bronski beat found a way to touch the lives of so many thanks for that boys
a straight man named Natalie?
well Nat, as a fellow straight man, I too love (and respect) this song.
@@chemistryset1 I didn't know chemistry sets had a gender. :) This song came out just as I, in quite decent circumstances, left home to go to university. First, it's a great song. Second, it's a great theme. Third, it confims my "falsetto" theory of popular music, which is that a song is about 60% more likely to be a hit if it contains something akin to a falsetto. True since the doo-wop era, true to this day. Fourth, it (along with a lot of other early 80's music) started tearing down homophobia. I personally never got why straight people like myself got so upset about anyone else's preferences, but they sure as hell did, and to some extent still do. Jimmy may be small, but he made a big impact.
The track is killer!
You're straight? Oooh 👍👍👍
🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Yea not bad. Am a homosexual from NZ.
straight Aussie bloke here - I always thought this song was incredibly ballsy and powerful, great stuff.
Gay Aussie guy here, great comment chemistryset
chemistryset1 straight Irish bloke living in Australia here; totally agree mate! 👍
I don't give A shit if you straight 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
@@bensims7501 - thanks for the feedback champ!
Agree completely. Good lad!
This song. I can't even describe the chills it still gives me nowadays.
And then he heads off on a bike. What a great, thoughtful interview. Not about the singer, the song, but about society back then and now.
Such a huge star, with such a beautiful, iconic voice, who has influenced so many people, it's weird to see him in such a normal setting just riding his bike in the park.
Massive eighties star with the communards too
Yes, the park is always a nice setting for a ride. Apparently.
A gay Polish fellow here, in Canada since the mid-80s. I so understand you when you talk of these "Eastern European", aggressively prejudiced, religiously (culturally) based attitudes. That is why I left that part of the world all those decades ago. And, whenever I come across my former compatriots, I still feel ill at ease, at times... You, on the other hand, your songs, all those years ago (and I was still living in Poland back then), were a true beacon of hope for this small town boy (originally from the capital city of Warsaw...). I've been living with my man for 22 years now. Married last year. Loving you forever, Jimmy, all the way from Montreal. 💗🙂
Another Polish fellow here, i have to say at first i felt almost attacked by his words, but then again people can be very petty for (seamingly) no reason. Human decency comes before patriotism
Another thing he mentioned was the unwelcoming nature of eastern europeans, which i think is a different topic. There's still that sense of paranoia left by the communism, add to that the mighty moronic popculture and politics of various extreme parties and it creates a truly toxic environment
This song alway reminds me of me a lad of 15 who lost both parents . Its hard to understand that I was one of those kids who slipped through the government support net. Especially when I needed somone so I packed my bag an stuck out my thumb an hitchens to London. I had some amazing experiences an i did thing I'm not proud of but it made me who I am.. I had an adventure for 32 years experienceing different people places things. I lived in Cornwall Exeter London Amsterdam goa an Thailand an ended up in Brighton when i fell in love.. And the funny thing is I'm now living back near that place I moved away from.. All those years ago but this song is me.. Unfortunately my partner of 28 wonderful years died 3 mth ago from cancer. So now I'm all alone again. But this song can make me cry an laugh. And iv have had alot of laughter in my life.
Sounds like your ready for another adventure
Wow what a nice story, but such a sad end to that chapter in your life. Hope you keep going and find happiness again.
Hope that you are doing well
Great story. Life is beautiful even if it's painful. Sometimes the suffering makes it even more beautiful.
You don’t have to be gay to connect with the themes of rejection this song represents. And this guy has an incredible voice. There’s a piano piece on here with him singing and it’s stunning... Very moving.
You can take the boy out of Glasgow, but you cannae take the Glesga oot of the boy.... Good on ya Jimmy.
rob craig Is What hanging around parks looking for men
@@davidthomson3867 LMAO
He couldn't get away from that shithole quick enough ...did you not watch the video ffs
City full of gays
@@peterhamilton2695 did you that was then its different now
He's 100% right this man. It does'nt matter if your gay or not, your just a human being and there's no one, that can tell you your not belong here....
....unless you're a baby growing inside your mother's body...apparently, according to him, that part's alright.
@MAD GRUMPYMAN I love stuffing my junk into a shi*thole and I love someone putting their junk into my sh*thole and its non of your fucking business fuckface
@@Lengsel7 ???????????????????
@MAD GRUMPYMAN Yes agreed it is fortunate that most people know how much fun it is.
@@09nob Guess you need to actually watch the video.
I have so much respect for this guy, and what a fantastic singer, he can still sing this song just as good today. This is one of my favourite songs from the 80's.
He's made some very valid points towards the end. Well said. As someone said below, it takes guts to speak out on this topic of immigration, and religious beliefs and prejudices towards gay people.
@sarah jones You've just said nothing. The rise of the far Right is from the far Left calling everyone who disagrees with them 'racist' and 'segregated'. How do you explain supporting the rights of the lgbt community and the rights of women while simultaneously supporting Muslim migrants? You can't. And you can't ignore the crimes against women that have occurred (Rotherham) where people turn a blind eye so as not to 'offend' anyone and basically sell out women JUST to not appear 'racist'. It is hypocrisy pure and simple. Your country and culture has laws and norms which are not being followed by people IN YOUR COUNTRY who act like they are still in THEIR country and culture. That's not right. Women whine about 'patriarchy' 'rape culture in colleges' and claim 'harrassment' if a White guy talks to them but say NOTHING when there was a true patriarchal rape culture in Rotherham? People have to step up and speak out. Not just use stupid little words to virtue signal.
Owen Jones will have a thromby if he sees this
this is such a hard thing!! because I'm all for immigration, but religion is so hard for me to wrap my head around. It doesn't care what monotheistic religion, all strong religious believes our often homophobic or misogynistic... We really need an open discussion on religion and equality!! and it should not be racist!!
@@RubyTwilite word!
@@iemand2612
Why would someone be "all for immigration" ?
Do you hate yourself that much that you want you and your fellows, your heritage and civilization to disappear ? To get Great Replaced ? In the name of what ?
How could someone be "all for that" ?
what a great person. Never hide from what you are,you can't. And he is a great guy.
The song is a Hi-NRG masterpiece, it trancendes the relations to sexuality, it is about so much more than that: Anybody who "do not want to be trapped in the community the grew up in" will find refuge in the song
It was 1975 I was 15 and sick of that little town attitudes to everything. So I walked to the Motorway stuck out a Thumb and ended Up In Essex. Where I joined a Fair. I have Worked on a Fair on and off for Years now. I am now 61 and I pulled down for the last time at Chiswick just a few months ago. When I Heard this track for the first time It said everything I felt back then, I didn't even know It was Sung by, or about a Gay Man. And when I saw the Video I thought, What the heck this Song Is for Everyone. Thanks Jimmy You are a Legend and I would be Proud to call You a Friend.
when this song came out in 84 i was 12 and lived in Oklahoma U.S. i was always the tallest and skinniest kid in my school and got bullied a lot for looking weird and not fitting in. i remember i use to see the video on MTV and i always thought it was just about him being bullied for being small and quiet, i wasnt overly familiar with homosexuality at the time. i did sort of wonder slightly because there were a lot of clips of him staring at guys, but nothing blatant enough for me to grasp it was actually about homosexuality. but i think the point is one of the brilliant things about the video is it meant just as much to me as a straight boy in a whole other country, just the universal themes of not belonging and being afraid and the dreams of escaping to a bigger cooler city where you are understood and fit in. great touching song and great touching video. maybe we arent so different.
newwavepop
Great story.
Hadn't even realised they were big in USA
Love this song, miss the 80s music
Jimmy is a true hero. Beautiful voice, humble nature, friendly till the end. A true hero. And his message at the end is more actual then ever right now. Damn.
Good that he has the guts to speak out.
Bona Drag
....Drag that Boner you perv! LOL
really, all u do is speak out, every one of these videos was interesting, it took Jimmy 2 words to say, I'm Gay
@@hazimahmedmurad Please edit...makes no sense.
@@ConservativeAnthem from the get go it's about being Gay. The 1st anyone has done that after watching about 50 vids and I'm a communards fan
Bona Drag Ii
From thinking he was a squeaky voiced short Scottish bloke who wore crap shirts to an interesting sort of chap who makes some good points in one five minute video.
i was 17 when this iconic song was in heavy rotation on MTV. looking back i think it helped give me the courage to leave home.
I love this song. Jimmy Somerville has such an amazing and distinctive voice!
Good words from the man. Especially about the Netherlands. And he is so right in the last part of the video. Well said,Jimmy.
Excellent points about the need to protect and appreciate what have been achieved as individual freedom in a society. We can not climb the ladder when we allow us to take steps down again.
This is why I ran across my country! I’m crying while writing this, you gave a voice to so many of us!
It’s hard to leave harder to go back
He's in good shape for 57
StepIntoTomorrow He doesn't look 57.
that guy looks 40.... damn
@Anne Phair The advert on the bus at 3:20, "Alex Rider bites back." was a slogan for Anthony Horowitz's book Snakehead, the book was released in the UK 2007. So this was filmed in the summer of 2007, Jimmy was 45-46 at the time. Also, It's Wellington Monument in Hyde Park London. The statue at the beginning of he video is Achilles by sculptor Richard Westmacott. Erected in 1822, it was London's first public nude sculpture since antiquity.
Saw him live last year, it's uncanny !
@Anne Phair She needs botox.
This is only song I've ever heard that when you hear it, you feel the real desperation felt by the singer. I'm not pro or anti gay or have no views on it but when you envelope yourself in the music and words you feel the emptiness of haing to live that way, you can understand the feeling of loss, insecurity and complete desperation of not being accepted, understood or wanted because you are different. The look of disdain on his fathers face and disappointment says it all.... what an amazing piece of timeless work.
💯
in the 80's it was real
Thank you for seeing that. It was very real back then, especially since there was no social media or other way to connect....
Kevin J Walsh ....it was an anthem for many young disenfranchised young men....myself included....
i made that train ride to london....alone, broke and homeless.
ahh happy days!
i am not gay.but damn that song is so 80's i love it.
Plexpara
One of the best
yes , and the other 80s songs you like are
TAINTED LOVE
YOU SPIN ME AROUNd (LIKE A RECORD)
and
I'M TOO SEXY (FOR MY CAT)
please come out of the closet now, Plex!
This song was a real punch in the face and kick up the backside for me as a fresh-faced 14 year old in 1984. It's still very moving after all this time x
Well said Jimmy , glad to see you out and about in the smoke . Top track , one of my favourites from the 80s .
A man gifted with a great singing voice.
I absolutely loved him I the 80,s. I had a difficult childhood and I would listen to his music. I had the privilege to see him live in 2019 he was absolutely brilliant!
I'm a straight male from Canada and what he is saying is 100% rite and true. If you move to another country then accept the ways of the land. You have moved to another country because of freedom so freedom it is for everyone. Once people start to change the country and its ways it then becomes something different. Bottom line don't tell others what they can and can't do in their own homes! Besides the music is some of the best.
I love this song. I know Bronski Beat had the other singer but Jimmy's voice is so powerful and you can feel his emotion when he sings.
Well said towards the end especially!
He's in good shape for 57
God bless you, Jimmy Somerville. You haven't changed 😀 may you never change 😇
Aww Jimmy sommerville what a voice and great guy. Loved bronski beat and I'm a straight woman. Everyone loved them
This song probably helped generations of the LBGT community in endless ways. As a Goth girl it always stuck with me. You were so brave and so strong Jimmy. I waited so long to hear your thoughts on your song. Much love and respect to you. Bless you.
What a brave man for speaking his TRUTH
I take my hat off to you Jimmy
5:09 Listen very carefully, this is honestly as should. Same with the woke believe shit around, don't screw the good things we have reached with overacting nonsense to ruin the clearness we had reached before.
Don't care if he is gay.. he's is a good speaker.. what he says is smart and his music legend.
Apart from repeatedly saying "kind of", which got on my tits. Then again, he didn't say, "I was like, OMG".
Still would go straight to no.1 in 2019. Just timeless....
My favourite song from 80s. Just one of the best synth pop tunes ever. Love the 12" version more. My wife thinks I am weird for loving it. I just love synth.
Intelligent lovely man, still looks youthful. This song definitely made it's mark on me as a gay boy growing up in a town full of backward yobs and going to a Christian Brothers school.
Honest interview. Good to see Jimmy, as one of Glasgow's finest isn't actually on twitter.
oh god yes, i hope he stays away from the cancer that is Twatter. >_
Twitter is just left wing ultra PC virtue signalling vomit. The most intolerant people pretending to be tolerant but only when it suits their own agenda. Jimmy would be labelled racist for speaking out about how certain groups treat gays. He spoke more sense in 5 minutes than anyone on twitter.
I would hate myself if I ever joined Twatter. Also, I hate how the BBC keep posting major excerpts from there (as if their quoting it wasn't enough!) You get to read the same idiocy TWICE.
I want to specially appreciate your well wishes and support for me . Thanks for the love and care. nice comment on my post, it means alot to me . I want you to send me a direct message via Hangouts using my personal email that will be indicated below. Also endeavor to add your name to the text so I can know you are the one texting because I don't respond unnecessary messages.
Hangouts mail: jimmysomervilleprivateaccess@gmail.com
Straight Asian here, still love this song.
Listened to this song again recently and what Jimmy said struck me. Feels also like a song about a working class journey, where to move on in life you have to turn your back on the values of the place you came from. I think it's a brilliant song. The reprise version is also highly recommended.
God bless you, Jimmy Somerville. You haven't changed 😀 may you never change 😇
Loved this song in the 80s as I still do now, I’m now 46, my favourite song by bronski beat/ the communards is For a Friend the words just get me every time xxx
One of the timeless tracks from the 80s.
One of those songs that has a special place in my heart. I'll always remember this surprisingly coming on at a dance club in the 90's. I hadn't heard it in a while and did know it was about discovering your sexuality (in this case a gay man) and being FREE to find himself - leaving his prisoned past behind. I was instinctually drawn to the dance floor by myself (which at that time wasn't like me) and liked dancing to the beat/rhythm. As I danced (knowing I'm a good dancer and feeling myself), for the first time I really listened to the lyrics. I began crying - got emotional - which surprised me. They were tears of joy and I realized at that moment how proud I was of myself for doing the same thing. I was listening to my own story being sung by Jimmy's powerful, soulful, emotional voice. God I love his voice. I sang along, continued crying and began spinning around with no care in the world and/or who saw me. When I came to and realized the song was over, everyone was smiling - they got it/understood. It was at that moment I took pride in who I am and the gay struggle. A powerful and beautiful memory. Thanks a million Jimmy Boy♥
Yeah, it is a bit gay, isn't it?
This is the ultimate road song.
This guy is a legend he done so much for the gay community. 👍👍👍😎
Utch Punk - try to be more original, will you. Gay men have heard every kind of comment designed to trigger us and that scored about 1/10 - in words pathetic. Try harder next time, wanker punk.
Utch Punk , you díd contract it, I guess? The planet will manage without you...
@@davidlondon2810 did you dad and dad actually have any kids that lived? Go and take your head for a shit, hold on you already did. Fucking turd burglar
Grow up man
in wider perspective he did alot for humanity as well..... being mobbed and beaten up, if you somehow do not fit into the target of the students understanding can expose you to tough times ,whether you gay,nerd,dark ,metalhead or any other outsider life condition you may think about.....nad "respect" is a word still to be really understood to today
Jimmy is my favourite singer I would listen to him for hours
Amazing interview. This guy has a lot to say.. and make amazing songs.
Wise words. This was a great one!
Great speech, always a cutie, unique voice, love and light from Australia
It's still a great powerful song in 2019
Their music is so wicked and love their 80s synth pop sound. Just a great band and Jimmy is such a humble guy
I was a teen back then& i loved their music,I didn't know anyone else that did in my circle of friends I just thought it was brilliant.and I love his honesty & straight forward manner of telling it how it is .
How is he so adorable and barely aged in almost 40 years
4:48 "Do I have a racist tendency then? Is this based on my not understanding a culture and a religion and is this a kind of... 'I'm a racist' - but then a part of me's like, actually, no, I live in a country where we've worked damn hard to get legislation that basically protects me, and protects my friends, and protects everyone, and... I'll be fucked if I'm gonna allow some movement, or a group of people, to try and take that away because of their religious beliefs!"
I had to watch that part a couple of times, it's so spot on.
So, So True
@@johnlockesghost5592 why would you say that? Tolerance is not about having your rights and freedom revoked or violated. To me, tolerance is live and let live. And I expect the other party to treat me the same: let live.
@@johnlockesghost5592 So you are stating I am intolerant for asking you: 'why would you say that?'....rly
@@MegaTinni dont feed the troll, its a never ending circle
PEACE, LOVE & EQUALITY.
I still love this song today. It is glued to any playlist I ever made.
Great to see him laughing, brilliant
The best intro ever and best dance song of the eighties. Jimmy, a hero!
Well said Jimmy, to allow the erosion of basic human rights to accomodate the intolerance of radical minorities is an insult to generations of brave men and women who risked everything by standing together against repression and hatred.
And now look at where the United States is. We have regressed.
God bless you Mr sommerville. that last segment where you talked about a certain people taking away our rights and laws and our beliefs is right on the money. 🤟🤝🏴
It's good that he is not afraid to speak our about foreigners and how they affect society in the UK. He has some very valid points. I totally agree with him, because we will have to go through all those integration issues that we had to go through from the 1950's until not too long ago. Just when you thought it isn't too bad ever since 911 and mass immigration things have become much more complex.
Someone please explain to me how this channel only has 15,000 subscribers. It’s one of the best on TH-cam
I think it’s because its a Dutch public radiostation. This channel is especially for the Top 2000 program. People can vote the songs they love at the beginning of december and it is aired from x-mass eve till 0.00 hr at new years eve... At this time Winter from Tori Amos is playing at nr. 1106 :-). It has become quite a tradition in NL. Millions of people tune in this week.
We found Jimmy, finally.
Still fighting for equallity and we continue support him.
One of the greatest songs and stories ever written and sung by one of the greatest male sopranos of all time :)
Awesome Song
That beat is timeless
Love this song. Struggles we go through in life empower us and make us stronger!!!!
Great song sung by a very courageous man. All the best, Jimmy.
Classy Song! Classy Man!
"Their lives ran in circles so small
They thought they'd seen it all
And they couldn't make a place for
A girl who'd seen the ocean"
Memories of East Texas - Michelle Shcked
From a straight man to a bent man well said Jimmy your a top bloke
Perfectly presented. Jimmy...strong little Jimmy.
Well said, Jimmy. Love, love LOVE.
Zo veel liefde voor deze man
This song definitely got me out of the closet back in the 80s. Love it big tima.
Oh we do like a bit of chocolate, don't we, of all varieties.
Well said Jimmy. As a gay man, albeit not an overtly gay, or feminised gay man, I feel the same way in many respects.
If you want to live in the UK, then respect our culture, and our endeavours. The same would be expected of us in most foreign countries.
It is not for us to adapt to foreign cultures within our own country. Although embracing certain aspects of foreign culture is not in itself a bad thing, but NEVER at the expense of our own culture.
@mrpinks When changes are disproportionate, and fly in the face of established national values, with laws that put the majority at a disadvantage, or elevate the values of any one minority, then the majority has a right to be concerned. Any other country outside of Europe, the USA/Canada, or Australia/New Zealand, ensure that THEIR national values are upheld. And as such, those countries are way less accepting of other people, diversity, and the demands of minorities who reside there, and are rarely criticized because of it, and rightly so.
WOW!!! Well said Jimmy. Massive respect.
this song forced me to finally confront my own reality.
Always found this song moving and heart breaking. Sorry to hear things are going backwards now. 😫
This song had a big impact on me even though I"m straight. The notion that people could be beaten up just for being gay disgusted me and so I became more empathic.
One the very best modern masterpieces. Video was amazing too!
This song/video was just gaining airplay (in Boston, anyway) very early in my coming out, so it was... important, pardon the understatement. And I am a small-town boy who'd run away to the closest "big" city. Just a very lucky confluence.
This song takes me back, love the electropop sound such a cool tune!!
Always campaigned for equality for the gay community.
His songs are unashamedly about being gay, and I have been a huge fan since the beginning.
Saw him in concert, and he is as good now as ever!
As a synth guy, Bronski Beat, and Communards etc are just the best!
he is so right about those things he says at the end. it makes you question your values and identity, and I can relate as a woman, we have to make sure the advancement we have made are kept in place.
This guy has not aged!
Jimmys so fucking great. Love and peace to us all. Bronski beat smalltown boy masterpiece.
This guy looks the same!! Great song.
Great interview /story Jimmy. Many thanks for the great music.
He is so right though, gay people in Ireland and UK fought for years to be able to live freely in thier own countries, after finally achieving it they are now being told that it offends certain nationalities who choose to live in our countries??? FFS!!!
It's a made up problem.
agreed pisses me off....I'm not gay but I'd stick up for them anyday of the week
@@hazimmurad8066 Really? Well let's open a gay club next to a mosque and we'll see if it's made up.
@@hazimmurad8066: Is actually a fact that attacks against gay people in Europe increased because of islamic ideology.
This case made headline last year (the attackers were Moroccans immigrants): www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/world/europe/dutch-men-hold-hands.html
If you deny the problem, you are part of the problem.
@@wullymc1 open next to a church and u have the same issue. Open a strip bar and u still have the same issue. It's not the religion that's the problem here. It's a made up issue in the sense that unless u provoke (which u r with ur example) no one would bother u.
An absolute classic , one of the great songs that defines the 80s.
Man, SUCH an amazing song, an amazing message and I just love Jimmy!
Iconic tune. I loved them and The Communards who he went on to sing with.
Good song and I’m not gay. Remember it coming out and went and got it. Good music from good days. Shame he left the band in a way. Think they could of gone a long way. I hear one of them is dead now. R.I.P and thanks for leaving us with this great sounding track.