Lyrics for Common People as interpreted by 3ssence

Common People Lyrics
She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge
She studied sculpture at St. Martin's college
That's where I
Caught her eye
She told me that her Dad was loaded
I said "In that case I'll have rum and coca-cola."
She said "Fine,"
And then in thirty seconds time, she said -
"I wanna live like common people,
I wanna do whatever common people do,
I wanna sleep with common people,
I wanna sleep with common people like you."
Well what else could I do?
I said "I'll see what I can do."

I took her to a supermarket
I don't know why, but I had to start it somewhere
So it started there
I said "Pretend you've got no money."
But she just laughed an said "Oh you're so funny."
I said "Yeah?
Well I can't see anyone else smiling in here.
Are you sure you want to live like common people,
you want to see whatever common people see,
you want to sleep with common people,
you want to sleep with common people like me?"
But she didn't understand
She just smiled and held my hand

Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Smoke some fags and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school
But still you'll never get it right
'Cos when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you called your Dad he could stop it all
Yeah
You'll never live like common people,
You'll never do whatever common people do,
You'll never fail like common people,
You'll never watch your life slide out of view,
And then dance, and drink, and screw
Because there's nothing else to do

Sing along with the common people
Sing along and it might just get you through
Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along even though they're laughing at you
And the stupid things that you do
Because you think that poor is cool

Like a dog lying in a corner
They will bite and never warn you
Look out
They'll tear your insides out
'Cos everybody hates a tourist
Especially one who thinks it's
All such a laugh
Yeah, and the chIp stain's grease will come out in the bath
You will never understand
How it feels to live your life
With no meaning or control
And with nowhere else to go
You are amazed that they exist
And they burn so bright whilst you can only wonder why

Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Smoke some fags and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school
But still you'll never get it right
`Cos when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you called your Dad he could stop it all
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do what common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And then dance, and drink, and screw
Because there's nothing else to do

I want to live with common people like you
I want to live with common people like you
I want to live with common people like you
I want to live with common people like you
I want to live with common people like you
I want to live with common people like you
I want to live with common people like you
I want to live with common people like you
Aa-aa-ah la la la la...
Oh yeah.

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  • 48 Comments
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electric punk
01-13-2006

Rated 0 
omg this song is so kwl jarvis cocker is such a legend. common people like all pulp songs is so kwl!!!!

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_ellie
01-22-2006

Rated 0 
I love that big sniff he does in the last verse or so.

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IamCanadian
05-27-2006

Rated 0 
Check out the Motiv 8 Mix version of this song. I think it's the best version.

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patobrien
06-22-2006

Rated 0 
this is one of the finest pop songs ever written. everything it aims for it completely nails.

and shatner's cover is amazing. i love how it completely defies all logic and sense. and joe jackson just rips shit up

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Prisoner.I.Was
06-28-2006

Rated 0 
This song is about rich, middle-class students that come to University and want to be thrown into the squalor of student lifestyle. They then realise that being poor and up to your neck in shit is actually not as glamourous as they first thought, the difference between them and the REAL poor people is they can bail out anytime they want.

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owennnnnnnnnn
07-11-2006

Rated 0 
i think it seems important to remember throughout this song that jarvis cocker is not "common people" any more than the st. martin's girl is "common people." the other important thing, i think, is the fact that he uses the phrase "common people," as opposed to "proletariat" or "poor people" or "working people." "Common" has so many connotations that have nothing to do with wealth--try imagining the choruses as being from the perspective of the st. martin's girl AND jarvis AND all the people they'll both never be like. I think this song has less to do with talking shit about the "upper classes" than it does with the idea of wanting to be someone else. The rich people want to be poor, the poor people want to be rich, everyone wants to sleep with jarvis cocker, and NObody wants to be common, even if some girls want to live like it.

Or maybe not, but I can't imagine jarvis cocker being comfortable with writing a song as black and white as people seem to think "common people" is.

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Stinkoman 20X6
07-30-2006

Rated 0 
yeah, but when you think of 'common', you think of 'commoner'. 'common people' doesn't mean 'normal people', it's definitely how the upper class and royalty over hundreds of years have looked down on anyone 'less' then them in stature, wealth, upbringing, blah blah blah... plus, the girl is the daughter of some wealthy Greek shipping magnate (well, the one in real life supposedly was), so that's like super uper class elite - i mean, paris hilton dated one. and she's a snotty bitch!

You will never understand
How it feels to live your life
With no meaning or control
And with nowhere else to go
You are amazed that they exist
And they burn so bright whilst you can only wonder why

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Conacha
08-23-2006

Rated 0 
this song is a 90's classic... Pulp was sooo great! I think it deserves more recognition

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Eatcarpet
03-10-2007

Rated 0 
Class division.

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dcicirelli
05-23-2007

Rated 0 
I think the term "common people" is very intentionally chosen. "Common" is a patronizing term. Its her romantacizing the underprivliged.

And its Joe Jackson AND Ben Folds on the cover with William Shatner.

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magicmole
06-28-2007

Rated 0 
i agree with roger wilco. enough said!

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zaqwert777
07-28-2007

Rated 0 
I'd never say that William Shatner did this song better but I would say that the song is perfect for Joe Jackson's singing. He alone made the Shatner version better. iMHO.

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supersonic_sid
09-17-2007

Rated 0 
truly amazing song...did someone say its based on true events in shatners life??

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bjort
11-02-2007

Rated 0 
Basically I think the song is about conformity and how people try to "fit in" especially in high school and ESP where I live, which is Orange Coutny (hell), and this is why I'm using a section for my yearbook quote "sing along with the common people, sing alone and it will get you through, laugh along with the common people, even though they're laughing at you"

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Boourns
04-13-2008

Rated 0 
I like to think this song has a new life as an anti-hipster anthem.

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Roxyr4
04-16-2008

Rated 0 
Hi! I think this song is about posers (poseurs) jaja. They're everywhere...Avril Lavigne anyone?

I wanna have Jarvis babies!

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izze90
06-09-2008

Rated 0 
Obviously it's about an uptown rich girl wanting to test out the lifestyle of an average person.Reminds me of the movie Roman Holiday.Anyone seen it?

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Nexus7
09-09-2008

Rated 0 
I just realized how similar the music in this is to certain elements of Soldier Soldier by Spizz.

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futatorius
09-21-2008

Rated 0 
Cocker's from a working-class background and is from Sheffield, so the earlier comments about him being as privileged as Greek Girl are unfounded. In England, class mobility's nothing like it is in the States.

Lots of spoiled rich girls like to try "a bit of the rough" and this is the guy's perspective on what it's like to be used that way, and how it'll never give her the perspective she thinks she's going to get because her privilege will still get in the way. But he's still willing to go along for the ride.

"Everybody hates a tourist" is a key line in my opinion. You may think slumming is amusing but don't assume you're really welcome there or you'll understand what's going on.

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1 Reply
thepowercut
10-11-2008

Rated 0 
The meaning is obvious. Russle asked Jarvis to write something political - a break from the sex and single mother angle he was used to - and Cocker stumbled upon the PERFECT POP SONG. Musically & lyrically; I don't think there is anything that can match this as a pop song. So many people bought into this, on so many levels and for me (I was 14 when it came out) it literally intercepted the course of my life and gave me a deeper understanding.

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imronburgundy
02-15-2009

Rated 0 
This song is the 90s.

It annoys me that Nirvana will be the 90s from hereon when there was so much more socially and politically important (and plain better) music like Pulp.

It makes me think of indie kids in Camden who go for that look of rough working class when bands like Oasis and Pulp had it inherently. Its also ironic to look at how although the lyrics of Pulp and early Oasis were about working class life and wanting to break out, their styles as bands were so grandiose and exhuberant. They were the opposite of the woman in this song, not hesitating to leave the working class in style.

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LifeInTechnicolor
03-21-2009

Rated 0 
It's really sad how this and most other amazing Britpop songs have been completely forgotten.

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teddyhose
04-29-2009

Rated 0 
Whenever I play this song I have to turn it way up, brilliant lyrics and I can totally relate. I lived in a tiny basement apartment with no windows in Brooklyn by the projects as a student, complete with roaches. I'm in a shitload of student loan debt but have still had an amazing career so far.

The only thing that I think takes away from it is that the video and the way he sings are very chic while the lyrics are very punk rock. Maybe he's trying to be ironic, or maybe I'm comparing it to where I first heard it from Shatner and JJ which is faster and more angry.

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