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What does the song „Common people“ by Pulp express about the English society?

In the song “Common people” by Pulp the growing gap between the “upper class” and the “lower class” is described. The main characters acting in the song are a man and a girl. This girl is a member of the class living in wealth whilst the man belongs to the poorer class of the society. Because she is currently studying sculpture at St. Martin’s College, these two very different persons meet there.
The girl says that she’s keen om getting to know the circumstances members of the “lower class” have to deal with. She explains, that she wants to live like the “Common People”. I think this phrase already shows arrogance. By calling people common you mark them down. Further more she asks the man whether he could show her how “Common people” live. Consequently this canting curiosity is leading to anger on the man’s side in the end, because he knows, that she’s not really interested in the poor people’s life.

The differences between these two social classes are quite obvious. Certainly the “upper class” doesn’t know what it means to fail in life (l. 44). As a matter of fact children from parents belonging to the upper class are protected by them. If anything’s going wrong in their life, there is somebody who is able to care for them and show ways out of this mishap. In the songtext it’s mentioned, that it’s usual for the “common people” to “dance, drink and screw”. People, who are members of the upper class do not seem to mind the fate of people from the lower class. For these people it’s all some kind of a laugh. Moreover the curiosity of the girl also seems to be very superficial. As a matter of fact I could imagine, that she’s not really interested in the very different life of the poorer people, but only wants to have some fun. That can be concluded from lines 23, 34 and 54.

In my opinion the relation as it’s described in the text is inacceptable. In fact the upper class just makes fun of what the lower class has to deal with. I can assure that people from the lower class have sorrows the upper class can’t even imagine. When the boy says, the girl should better pretend to have no money to be able not to attract attention, she just laughs because she can’t imagine that somebody has to live without much money. From that I conclude, that members of the upper class are unable to understand how it feels to “watch your life slide out of view” and how it has to be to “Laugh along even though they’re laughing at you”. Moreover poor people cannot understand why people are able to “think that poor is cool”. The quote “everbody hates a tourist” means that the lower class doesn’t like people mixing up their life by thinking it would be quite cool to try to understand them. I think these people sometimes don’t want to be understood.

In my opinion there is a link between the relation of these two classes and their school education. Whether this link is mutual will be explored in the next few lines. As a matter of fact school education is based on the society you were born in. If you’re born in a family of the upper class you’re likely to gain a good school education. That’s the reason why you’re to get a good job afterwards and your children will be able to gain a good school education as well. Children coming out of a poor family do not have these chances. They’re not able to escape this vicious cycle. That’s why I think that people of the lower class do not like the upper class which leads to the bad relation between the two classes. I suppose children of both classes are educated not to get in touch with members of the other society. The reason could be, that poor people are angry with the upper class because it doesn’t try to wash away the differences between rich and poor. The anger shown in the song might be a try to attract attention. I think the rather violent attitude in the text is justified. In the English society the children are seperated in rich and poor communities when they’re about five or so. Moreover children living in wealth have some kind of “Automatic Career”. The attitude that is lain to day in the song is provoked by the people of the upper class, who are making fun of the poor people’s life. It’s a huge difference, whether you’re born with a silver spoon in your mouth or not. One of the arguments in favour of a less violent attitude against the rich ones is, that not the wealthy people are guilty, but the politicians.
All in all I think members of both social classes have to accept that they’re not innocent. Both groups’ behavior is leading to this situation. I do not know a solution for this problem. Maybe just both groups really have to want to understand the other. But as long as this does not happen I do not see an solution for the problems the English society has to deal with.

The song lyrics “Common People” by Pulp and William Shatner portray complex ideas about belonging. The song is about an upper class girl who wants to swap her place in society and “live like common people.” She asks a working class young man to help her in this goal, and he becomes increasingly frustrated by her attitude to belonging. She desires to belong to a different class in society, but the young woman undertakes the reverse process, wanting to decline in social status rather than rise. She takes a path that does not conform to the expectations of those around her. The young woman in “Common People” perceives that “poor is cool” and has the attitude that there will be minimal barriers to belonging in working class society. Like Rita, the woman immediately demonstrates in the way that she starts a relationship with the working class young man that she does not understand the social codes needed to belong in this group in society. She tells him her heart’s desire as soon as she meets him: “I want to live like common people,/ I want to do whatever common people do”. Her repetition of “I want to” creates a sense of her strong desire to belong to the “common people”. The young man and woman develop a relationship with the young woman relying on the young man to teach her about how to live like “common people.” He speaks to her as if she were a student, using a series of imperative (commanding) verbs, including “Pretend you’ve got no money.” However, their differences in social contexts mean that she does not understand his seriousness, responding inappropriately, “oh you’re so funny.” Her laughter reveals that her social context is a barrier to understanding the nature of belonging in this social class. The young woman’s pretentious attitude (“her dad was loaded”) is a barrier to her belonging and leads to the young man’s sarcastic reaction: “If you called your dad he could stop it all”. He becomes increasingly frustrated with her, and the rest of the song only allows his voice, silencing her. He repeats her chorus, changing the words:

You’ll never live like common people
You’ll never do whatever common people do.
You’ll never fail like common people.

As William Shatner says these words in spoken word form, his tone of voice becomes more and more sinister. His repetition of “You’ll never” and his stress on the word “fail” emphasise his anger at her goal. He is angry that she would think that belonging in a different social class was possible. Her attitude does not change over time because she can never gain insight into the true experience of living like a “common” person: “You will never understand/ How it feels to live your life/ With no meaning or control”. The young man’s use of the second person pronoun creates a sense of his disdain for her and his different attitude to the situation of a “common” person. He sees her attitude as that of a “tourist” that will be treated with cruelty by others because of her lack of authenticity: “Like a dog lying in the corner,/ They’ll bite you and never warn you/ Look out”. The simile and the imperative “Look out” highlight her inability to make connections to people in this setting and his perception that the attitude of other people towards her will not change over time. Her accumulation of the items that she sees as signs of belonging is similar to the man’s listing of the outward signs of someone in the working class (“Rent,” “Smoke”, “Play”, “Pretend”). At the end of the song, there is no reconciliation between the young man and woman. Thus Pulp and William Shatner use a variety of techniques in “Common People” to convey the complexity of belonging to a new group.