With Jarvis Cocker’s “Running the World” in the midst of a grassroots campaign to capture the vaunted Christmas Number One single spot in the Brexit-bound U.K., the Pulp singer has shared a new version of the 2006 song.
Even before Boris Johnson was reaffirmed as the British prime minister, Cocker’s Jarvis hidden track — with its now-rallying cry chorus, “Cunts are still running the world” — was gaining support to be this year’s renegade Christmas Number One single; in 2009, a grassroots campaign successfully rocketed Rage Against the Machine’s 1992 single “Killing in the Name” to the Xmas top spot usually reserved for of-the-moment pop songs.
Cocker said in a statement: “So here’s the story: about a month ago the Kaiser Quartett sent me a recording of their arrangement of ‘Running the World’ and asked if I’d consider singing on it. So I did. The song will feature on one of their upcoming record releases but — given the current campaign — we thought you might like to get a sneak preview right now.”
The new rendition follows the efforts of a 24,000-member Facebook group that ignited the “Running the World” campaign. “I just want to say a very big thank you to everyone involved in this campaign to get ‘Cunts Are Still Running the World’ to #1 for Xmas,” Cocker wrote on Instagram Wednesday. “What a lark! I’m so proud that people have chosen the song as a means of protest against the social, political and environmental situation we find ourselves in.”
However, “Running the World” faces an uphill battle less than a week from Christmas: According to Official Charts, as of Wednesday, “Running the World” sat at Number 87, roughly 5,000 units out of the Top 40. Regardless of where it finishes, Cocker has pledged that proceeds from the renewed interest in “Running the World” will benefit the homelessness organization Shelter.