Sit Down (song)

"Sit Down" is a song by James, originally released in 1989 by Rough Trade Records. In its seven-and-a-half-minute original form, the song only reached number 77 in the UK Singles Chart (although it did make number 8 in John Peel's Festive Fifty of that year). Due to this unimpressive performance their record label's managing director, Geoff Travis, told the band they were not a viable commercial proposition beyond an audience of 20,000.

Contents

• 1989 original release
• 1991 release
• Sit Down 98
• References

The song's lyrics were written in the autumn of 1988 as a homage to author Doris Lessing and singer Patti Smith, who had inspired Tim Booth. After experiencing success as part of the Madchester music scene, a new version was released in March 1991 that was shorter and with new lyrics. It reached number 2 in the Singles Chart, spending three weeks there. It was the 20th best-selling single of 1991 in the UK, one of the highest selling singles of the year not to reach number one.

After the release of their 'Best Of' album, the song was remixed by Apollo 440 and released as a single for a third time in November 1998, reaching number 7, making it their biggest hit since the 1991 release.

The band had to sell the rights to the song to Mercury Records to help pay off debts to the record company.

In 2006, Sit Down was used as a featured song in BBC Three's Manchester Passion, in which lead singer, Tim Booth, also appeared as Judas Iscariot. Darren Morfitt in the role of Jesus sang a less upbeat rendition of the piece to his resting disciples while the presenter signalled the audience to sit down. Booth sang the song in an encore after the credits.

In 2013, the song placed 4th in a poll by BBC Radio 2 and the Official Charts Company 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 for Comic Relief.