"Sit Down" is a song by English band

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, originally released in June 1989 by

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pu ...

. The song's lyrics were written in late 1988 as a homage to author Doris Lessing and singer

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album ''Horses''. Called the "punk poet ...

, who had inspired the lead singer of James,

Tim Booth Timothy John Booth (born 4 February 1960) is an English singer-songwriter, actor and dancer. He is the lead singer and co-founder of the indie rock band James, and co-wrote several of their hit singles including " Sit Down", " Come Home", and ...

. In its eight-and-a-half-minute original form, the song only reached number 77 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

(although it did make number eight in

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

Festive Fifty The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's 50 (though the exact figure varied above and below this number) best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. It was usually do ...

of that year). After experiencing success as part of the

Madchester Madchester was a musical and cultural scene that developed in the English city of Manchester in the late 1980s, closely associated with the indie dance scene. Indie-dance (sometimes referred to as indie-rave) saw artists merging indie musi ...

music scene, a new version was released in March 1991 that was shorter and with new lyrics. Released via

Fontana Records Fontana Records is a record label that was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records. The independent label distributor Fontana Distribution takes its name from the label. History Fontana started in the 1950s as a sub ...

, it reached number two on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks there. It was the 20th best-selling single of 1991 in the UK. In 2013, the song placed fourth in a poll by

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content ...

and the

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

to find the greatest track to miss out on the number-one spot in the UK charts. In the same year, James performed the song with

Peter Kay Peter John Kay (born 2 July 1973) is an English actor, comedy writer and stand-up comedian. He has written, produced and acted in several television and film projects, and has written three books. Born and brought up in Bolton, Kay studied ...

for

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic epis ...

. On 30 March 2017 a version of the song was used in the promo of the seventh season of the hit

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the firs ...

''.

Background

In an interview with Dave Simpson of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' on the effect of the song, James guitarist Larry Gott stated, "Sit Down is one of those songs that encourages people to put their arms around strangers. As soon as we launch into the opening bars, they start smiling. Then they turn to someone next to them or their girlfriend or boyfriend and hug them, and then they start singing every single word. As a musician, that's incredibly humbling." The original cover depicts an image of the former

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswo ...

goalkeeper Tony Macedo.

Music videos

The music video for the original 1989 Rough Trade release was directed by Ed Barton. Set against a white background, with

singing and the band performing the song. At one point Booth hugs a sheep and various shady-looking individuals sit down next to him. The video received a Musicians Union ban for two weeks, as it featured

Jim Glennie James Patrick Glennie (born 10 October 1963) is the bassist for and eponym of English rock band, James. He is the band's longest-serving member—having been there from the first line-up through to the present day—and now only remaining origi ...

impersonating a drummer, and thus taking someone else's job.

Track listings

1989 original release

# "Sit Down" ''(7-inch and 8:31 extended version on 12-inch)'' # "Goin' Away" ''(12-inch and CD)'' # "Sound Investment" ''(12-inch and CD)'' # "Sky Is Falling" ''(7-inch, 12-inch and CD)''

1991 release

# "Sit Down" (new version) ''(7-inch, 12-inch and CD)'' # "Tonight" ''(12-inch and CD)'' # "Sunday Morning" ''(Canadian CD)'' # "Sit Down" (live at G-Mex) ''(7-inch, 12-inch and CD)''

"Sit Down '98"

CD1 # "Sit Down '98" (Apollo 440 remix) # "Sit Down" (original) # " China Girl" (Radio One Iggy Pop tribute) CD2 # "Sit Down '98" (Apollo 440 remix) # "What For" (Glr Session) # "Sit Down" (Glr Session)

Charts

Weekly charts

"Sit Down" "Sit Down '98"

Year-end charts

"Sit Down" "Sit Down '98"

Certifications

Release history

In popular culture

On 4 June 2017,

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey (manager), Phil H ...

performed "Sit Down" at the ''

One Love Manchester One Love Manchester was a benefit concert and British television special on 4 June 2017, organised by American singer Ariana Grande, Simon Moran, Melvin Benn and Scooter Braun in response to the Manchester Arena bombing after Grande's concer ...

'' benefit concert for the victims of the

Manchester Arena bombing On 22 May 2017, an Islamist extremist suicide bomber detonated a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb as people were leaving the Manchester Arena following a concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande. Twenty-three people were killed, including ...

, before performing their song "

Fix You "Fix You" is a song by British rock band Coldplay. It was written by all four members of the band for their third studio album, '' X&Y'' (2005). It was released on 5 September 2005 as the second single from ''X&Y'' and reached number 4 on the ...

". Fans of

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

rewrote the lyrics of this song in 2018 as a new terrace chant for 2017–18

Premier League Golden Boot The Premier League Golden Boot is an annual association football award presented to the leading goalscorer in the Premier League. For sponsorship purposes, it was called the Carling Golden Boot from 1994 to 2001, the Barclaycard Golden Boot fro ...

winner

Mohamed Salah Mohamed Salah Hamed Mahrous Ghaly ( ar, محمد صلاح حامد محروس غالي, ; born 15 June 1992), also known as Mo Salah, is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Liverpool and captains the Egypt ...

. James' lead singer Tim Booth thought the version was witty and welcomed its use for one of the world's best footballers.

References

External links

One of the Three Single Details

{{Authority control James (band) songs 1989 singles 1989 songs 1991 singles 1998 singles Fontana Records singles Rough Trade Records singles Song recordings produced by Gil Norton